Love As a Compromise
by The Rain In Reykjavik
Summary: For Chell, she knew what to expect. The same, always. But for Wheatley, life was as ever changing as his own emotions.  Chelley. Rated T for language.
1. Roses

'**Ello! This is my first Fan-fiction. Ever. That I'm posting here, anyway. I've gotten school at the moment, as well as midterms coming up soon, so Expect a really late update. Sorry!**

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><p><strong>Wheatley's POV<strong>

"Oh, man alive..."Wheatley groaned, clenching his teeth to keep from mashing his head into the control panel. _Every time, _he thought. _Every damn time._

_It's not enough. _He needed more. Slowly lifted his head, Wheatley faced the screen, spotting Chell looking at him, her light blue gaze blank, as usual.

"Brilliant,"he said, smiling at her. "Bloody amazing."Chell look relieved. Wheatley sighed, ripping his eyes from her. He pressed a button, turning off the screen.

_What the_ hell_ just happened?_

You want her, don't you?

A small voice in his head answered him. With a question.

_No. Of course not._

Just keep telling yourself that.

The voice was sarcastic now, sounding more like _her _than anyone else.

"I don't."Wheatley's voice came out as a squeak. He scowled. "I don't."Now a whisper. Wheatley growled with annoyance.

See? You dooooooooo.

"Fine! I want her! Are you happy now?"

It didn't answer him.

"Why does my life have to be so bloody difficult? Oh, of course _I _ have to be the one with the stupid voice in my head, and the one with a mute _and_ an insane potato to handle!"That was it. Wheatley's last strand of patience (And _sanity_) had snapped, leading him to fall into the long, dark hole of...

What, exactly?

"Sod it. I'll think about it later."

She knows.

"What?"

She has to kill you, doesn't she? She knows that. GLaDOS knows that.

"Don't say that name!"

Sheesh. I'm guessing you want to know if Chell's going to live, after she kills you?

"Yeah. And I'm not going to die."

You will. She won't.

"I won't. Not before I tell her the truth."

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><p><strong>Chell's POV<strong>

Chell sighed, glancing around the test chamber.

"He can't keep this up for much longer. He has to break eventually, he was _designed _to."Chell spared her Potato companion a single, withering look, kind of like she was saying _Thanks for telling me. Is there anything I don't know about him already? Because that was definitely _not_ one of them._

"Look, hear me out, will you? I'm not just saying he has to break, I'm saying he's going to kill us when he breaks. So, in the next few test chambers, try to look out for bottomless pits, okay?"Chell nodded briefly, re-focusing her gaze on the few Portalable walls she had.

_It's not that hard, _she thought. _I see what he's doing. Trying to make me let my guard down, are you, Wheatley? _Snorting, she rapidly Portaled and faith plated her way through the chamber, landing neatly at the exit.

And waited. And waited. Waited for Wheatley's voice so echo through the room, insulting her.

It never came. Instead there was a shrill, _and very loud, _shrieking, screaming _thing_ from the intercom.

Then silence.

"What the _hell _just happened?"GLaDOS sounded panicked. "Oh, well. It was probably just something wrong with the intercom system. Better at that to the list of problems that idiot's caused. Let just hope he doesn't-"

_Foom._

"_OhdeargodIcan'-"_

"Ah, finally. But we aren't exactly... _alone,_ yet, are we?"Wheatley's voice sounded hushed and breathless, weird, _as he couldn't breathe because he wasn't human. _Chell shook her head, confused.

"Ah, you finally agree with me! Well, that's one problem solved, isn't it?"Then, without warning, the Portal Gun was pulled out of her grip. By _very_ human hands. Chell could see the shadow of a face now, grinning maniacally, blue eyes glowing in the orange light of a freshly placed portal.

GLaDOS'voice sounded from the floor, still panicked. "Oh no. He managed to break into the core humanization system. But how-" Wheatley broke her off. "Because the password was your name." The light above him flickered on, illuminating him at last.

Chell gaped at him, unable to stop herself. Above the blue eyes was tousled dirty-blond hair, slicked up in all directions with water. Wheatley's smile was sinister, yet sincere and unhappy all at once; his eyes emphasised this, bright and narrowed. His pale hands were crossed over his flat chest, which was clothed by a simple black-and-gray shirt and a dark blue cloak. One of his large feet tapped the ground next to her Portal Gun- and the potato.

But what caught Chell's attention the most was the thing clutched in his left hand, slowly dropping blood-red petals and dripping water on the floor.

"Oh, dear _God- _Where'd you get that rose?"

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><p><em>AN: _**Short Chapter is short. Well. It started as a drabble, so maybe that's why?**


	2. Leaves

**Wheatley's POV**

It may have seemed trivial, to take so long to get a single flower.

But honestly, it taken Wheatley the space of a few hours, painstakingly trying to coax a claw-like grabber thing to pluck the rose. And for those long hours, he had thought of Chell, and how all the while she was simply a few floors below, wondering why he wasn't insulting her. Wheatley snorted softly, picturing the moment where Chell would come up here, wondering what the _hell _he was doing, like planning to kill her or something, and the whole time he'd been trying to pick a flower. Thrumming his hands on the control panel in front of him, he'd waited impatiently for the screen to come up.

_Bzzzt._

The screen flickered to life, nearly blinding Wheatley with the variety of colors. Letting out a stupid little squeak, he covered his eyes, peering out only when the color had darkened slightly.

He was awe-struck immediately.

"This is bloody amazing,"he breathed, staring fixatedly at everything. Color was everywhere, filling every little space there was. Even the white stuff, mixed in with the blue at the top of the screen, had depth to it, floating slowly. And what where those orangey-yellow things on the ground? They rustled at the slightest breeze, blowing over the camera and blocking off the top of it. But instead of irritably shaking it off like he generally would have, he let it stay.

Gently easing the claw forward, he saw it- the bright red flower, blinding him once more, but this time, it was a different feeling. It wasn't just his eyes being struck by light, it was something else, but what- why did he suddenly feel so _good_?

_So this is why she wants to escape so badly._ Wheatley saw it at last: The only reason Chell wanted out was to see light again, to see life again, and not be stuck in this... this _colorless _place, repeating everything over and over again.

_Chell... _her name flitted across his mind, blurring his vision, and turning all his problems, for just a split second, to dust. If only he could reach her now, reach her and tell her that he _wanted_ to right himself, but no-

"Focus. Not now, Wheatley!"He scolded himself. Shaking his head angrily, he commanded the claw to pick the flower.

Error- Take_ was not able to execute- object in question is too fragile and will break under force of high-velocity grabber.

"You've got to be kidding me,"Wheatley growled, mashing his fist on the controls. "What's the point of having this stuff, and all of this... control, if none of it works?"Mashing the buttons again, he scowled, frustrated.

_Bzzt._

The screen flickered again, this time switching to a nice view of the chambers below. "What the-"

_She's beautiful._

Wheatley gazed at Chell, unable to pull himself away. Her hair flew behind her as she tumbled through the Portals she'd placed, landing with her eyes narrowed with determination.

"Oh, look. It's the moron. He seems to be playing with the screens up there. And put a human in front of one of them."GLaDOS'voice rang through the test chamber.

"Shut it, Potato."Pressing the switch button, Wheatley glared at the rose once more, trying to focus.

_Focus. Focus. Focus focus focusfocusfocusfocus fuck us fuck us. Fuck _her.

More of this. A few hours go by, again with that same error, the same thoughts, until-

_Snip._

Armed with only a pair of scissors, the lightweight grabber had finally managed to grab the damn thing.

"This'd better work."

**Chell's POV**

He'd just laughed. Threw his head back and laughed.

"Look, moron: If you want to intimidate us, don't do that. It makes you look ridiculous."It seemed as if nothing could stop GLaDOS; even having her systems put into a potato hadn't halted her snide remarks. Wheatley had ignored her, still staring at Chell with that weird look in his eyes.

_What the hell is that?_ It wasn't hate, not anger or spite- it was a _good _thing.

And it was making her blush.

"Ah, well, see, it took me _forever_ to get you this. Honestly! It took me hours! It shouldn't be taking that long to get a rose, but really, it was fun. And it was the only one left, too!"His voice was still breathy, but now it was rushed, making him sound like he was tripping over his words.

"And you might want to talk slower. You sound like a two-year-old."This time, Wheatley did notice her. Without taking his eyes off of Chell, he gently picked the portal gun off of the ground. "I thought I told you to stop,"He said quietly, running one of the rose's sharp thorns through the back of the Potato. There was a little squeal from it; the yellow optic flickered rapidly, and eventually went out.

Wheatley's smile grew wider, still focused on her. "Alone at last. Seems familiar, doesn't it? Like the times where we were friends?"he said quietly, all the while still looking her right in the eyes. _Stop looking at me!_ Yet, try as she might, Chell could not pull her eyes away. Instead, she focused her eyes on his face, shooting as much puzzlement and distrust through it as as she could. Wheatley sighed. "Look, if it serves as any sort of reassurement to you, if I'd wanted to kill you, I mean, in this room, you'd already be dead."

He paused, letting his gaze wander a bit down to Chell's hands, which were curled into fists. Chell relaxed, glad to be free of that _look_ at last. Yet the contentment only last a few seconds, as it had only taken a mere few seconds for him to focus back on her face. "And besides, that potato friend of yours isn't dead."Wheatley had gained her attention again; she snapped her eyes open, frowning at him. "She's just been disabled! Well, I actually thought you'd notice, smart mind like your own."

Wheatley grinned, and for a moment, Chell was lost. All the problems, all the anger and feelings of loss directed towards him, were gone, turned to... well, dust.

"Anyways, let's get to the point here, shall we? I'm here to offer you a compromise."


	3. Light

****Facepalm** Okay. Well, the last time I uploaded this, there weren't any spaces between the words….. starting to think Microsoft Word is just being stupid. ._.**

**So, I'm uploading again. And if It doesn't word this time…. I dunno what I'll do.**

**Oh, and also, thank you to all of my lovely reviewers! You guys are the best! :D**

**Chell's POV**

_A compromise? _Chell frowned, fixing Wheatley with a confused look. He barely even blinked. "Compromise. You do know what that means, right?" he asked, returning her frown. Chell nodded. Wheatley's wide grin turned into a smirk. "Ah. I see. You thought I was gonna kill you, did'ja, luv? Well, seems like the reasurement part didn't exactly work out for you. Honestly, if I wanted to kill you, like I said before, you would already be dead." Chell was still unconvinced, and maybe it had showed on her face, as Wheatley had sighed frustratedly. "Look, d'you see any spike plates? Or sharp walls? Or neurotoxin? Anything that could kill you? Anything at all?"

"Well, moron, you might want to consider the fact that she can't even see the whole room. I wouldn't call that being very trusting of you." GLaDOS had not been gone long. Her yellow optic had flicked back on, and her robotic voice had loathing etched into every word.

_Foom._

The lights were on at last, showing the test chamber, which had changed completely. The room was devoid of anything, only filled with the white of the portal surfaces on the walls.

_Colorless._

_Dead._

_Plain._

Wheatley gently placed his hand on her shoulder, smiling. "See, luv? Nothing here's gonna kill you. " his touch sent electricity running through Chell's veins, making her heart rush. Wheatley might have been thinking along the same lines, as his hand shook a little, tensing slightly.

"Well... umm... you might be thinking what kind of compromise this is, exactly. It's a compromise that involves us not trying to kill each other every three seconds." He laughed weakly, gesturing at the chamber. "Kinda explains why I'm not mashing you right now, actually. I thought we could start now... Oh, and that potato _friend_ of yours better comply, too. You might want to also tell her that there's a bit in this deal for her, too." Chell knew that if GLaDOS could roll her eyes (if she even _had_ eyes), she would be doing so every time Wheatley had a word coming out of his mouth.

"Oh, please. In case you haven't noticed, moron-" GLaDOS' droning voice was cut off by a weird snort from the moron in question. Chell stared at him, frowning. Wheatley cleared his throat. "I guess this is where my apology comes in, isn't it?" He drooped, sitting on the floor now. "I know I'm a moron. I know I was bossy. And monstrous. I didn't want to do that to you. Felt like I wanted to, right? Well, truth is... I'm sorry. Genuinely." Wheatley's gaze had rested on her again, this time seeming haunted.

"I know that you probably just want to kill me right now. Portal me into eternal free fall and all that. But honestly... I'm not going to kill you." His voice faded off. "I'd probably kill myself before that."

Wheatley was completely sorrowful. _Are those _tears_? _Utterly losing her composure, Chell knelt beside him, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder.

And that's when he hugged her. "Thank you, _luv._ I won't forget this." he patted Chell on the head. "And you won't regret it."

**Wheatley's POV**

His mind was racing.

_Everything's changed. This is the way it should be. _

His heart was racing.

_This is better than any test result, isn't it, luv?_

His vision was blurring.

_Is he _crying_?_

Wheatley could hear Chell's thoughts clearly- clearer than usual. _Everything _about her was clearer than usual. _Beautiful._ He saw everything about her through a different light now- her light blue eyes were full of sympathy when she looked at him, sympathy, mostly, but there was something else there, something Wheatley couldn't quite name- And her hair- He remembered seeing it a few test chambers ago, flying back behind Chell as she flew through the air majestically. _Kinda like an eagle. A really, really, really amazing eagle._

"I can't _believe _you just did that! Do you really think that _idiot _is more trustworthy than me?" GLaDOS' voice came from the floor again, snapping at Chell in disbelief. Wheatley scowled at her. "The idiot you're talking about is standing right here! And has the power to step on you." The potato snorted softly. "Okay, fine. I'll be nice. But _you_ have to give me control again. Understand? Or should I say this slower?"

_Give _her_ control? Why the _hell _would I do that? _The uncertainty in his mind settled like a cloud, melding all of his other thoughts into one-

_Aperture or Chell?_

The battle raged, unheard, in his mind.

**You could just go with your heart instead of your moronics this time, you know.**

_Damn you, stupid voice._

**What's going to be the good coming out of taking control, anyway? Nothing works.**

_...True..._

**I've gotten a feeling that you care a lot more about Chell than you do about anything else.**

_That's true too._

**You love her, don't you?**

_Of course, I-_

The voice had disappeared completely, leaving Wheatley standing there with his mouth sagging wide open. _What kind of a question was that?_

"Well?" _Back to reality, that's what._ Wheatley thought scornfully. Pulling himself together the best he could, he pulled in a deep breath, Preparing the answer that was probably the biggest decision of his short-lived human life.

"You can take it. I don't need this place," he said quietly, feeling his heart rate tack up a bit. _Quite a bit._ GlaDOS seemed to have been expecting that. "Good choice. I see you've learned a bit. Just plug me in over here, will you?" her voice was quieter now, much deadlier than before. "This may... _sting_ a little bit." Unfazed, Wheatley picked up the Portal Gun. Turning to Chell, he handed it to her. She frowned, staring up at him. Wheatley sighed.

"Call me a moron, but I'm not going to just give up. You can give me up for me, can't you? That sounded really stupid, sorry, but you do get the point, don't you?" Chell nodded. _Be careful, _Wheatley thought, staring after her as she turned towards the opened stick in the wall.

_Brace yourself. _Wheatley had curled his hands into tight fists, making his nails dig into his palms.

_Closer. Closer. _

_Click. _GLaDOS was accepted into the system as an alternate core.

Wheatley waited.

Chell waited.

"Corrupt core: Pain initiated." The announcer's voice blared over the intercom. Wheatley's eyes flew open. "Wait, pain? What kind of pain are we talking about here? Like, a little bit, or-" His words were cut off by the agony that had slammed into his system, making him sink to the ground, slamming his head on the metal floor. He pain subsided after a few seconds, dissipating into is arms and legs.

His breath coming in short, ragged gasps, Wheatley pulled himself off of the ground.

The room had changed completely.

Where there had once been Blank, white walls, the walls were an even more sinister black (If you could call white sinister), and there was now a portal gun and a pair of long-fall boots on the floor. There was a soft little giggle from above, followed by the worst thing he'd ever heard.

"Hey, moron. When I said _nice choice _earlier, that was in massive sarcasm quotes." GLaDOS' voice was back. "Look, let me put it this way. When I said I'd be nice, I never said I was going to be nice to you, did I?" The truth settled into Wheatley's blurred mind, leading him to realize-

"Where's... Chell?" he asked shakily, pulling himself off of the ground.

Another giggle.

Wheatley's pain and confusion was now mixed into his growing anger. "If you... killed her, I _swear_ I will not rest until I've mashed you into a pulp." Wheatley picked up the portal gun, and was pulling on the boots when another thought struck him. "Do _you_ know how it is to lose someone?"

"of course I have. And she's not dead. Just... unavailable, right now. Do you want to see her?" He scowled. "Of course I do. If she's dead-"

A screen to the right of him turned on, blinding him like every screen he'd seen since then. But this time, what met his eyes wasn't amazing, it was terrifying.

"Chell..." She'd been bound by wires, and gagged by a strip of cloth from her own shirt. There were scratches running up her arms and legs. Her eyes were wide open and bloodshot. "_Chell!_" Wheatley ran, scooping up the Portal gun, which he'd dropped in shock. Feeling angry tears well up in his eyes, he Portaled his way to the exit.

_You moron! You idiot! You should have known! WHY did you do that? _Wheatley scolded himself, shaking with fury.

_Giggle._

Wheatley turned to the ceiling. "Forget the 'If she's dead' part. I _will _find you, and I _will kill_ you. And that is a promise." There was a broken heart inside of him; he had already acknowledged that. _Don't let it shatter._ His past actions had mended him- he'd at least put a little spark of trust in Chell- and some love inside himself-

And then this _moronics_ thing had to happen again. _Why am I such a bloody _moron?

"Those are some pretty harsh words. Do keep in mind that I, no longer a squashable potato, am at the very least a hundred times stronger than you are, and millions of times smarter. So you may want to re-think that. Maybe just a little."

"I don't care." His voice came out as a whisper, making him sound like he was actually scared.

"What was that?"

"I don't _bloody_ care! I _will do it! _And I'd absolutely _love_ to see you try and stop me," Wheatley snarled. "D'you know that people don't tend to give up when they're fighting for love? Yeah, they don't, see?"

"How did you know? You're fighting for love?" GLaDOS sounded puzzled, as well as slightly skeptical. Wheatley rolled his eyes, and, despite it all, he cracked a smile. "It's called the Internet."

"I-"

"-Had another question? Yeah, well, so what if I am? I love her. There, I said it. Why don't you go tell her that, if you haven't already killed her with your deadly neurotoxin?"

"Fine. _Hey, lunatic! The moron loves you._ Is that enough for you?"

Wheatley sighed. "I guess that's got to be better than nothing."


	4. Blood

**Chell's POV**

"Call me a moron, but I'm not going to just give up. You can give me up for me, can't you? That sounded really stupid, sorry, but you do get the point, don't you?" Wheatley had handed her the Portal gun, unknowingly condemning himself to a violently painful death. _Not if he can help it, but that's not really saying much, _Chell thought, feeling her heart rate rise as she imagined what would happen. Nodding slowly, she took it, slowly walking across the floor to the opened stick on the wall. _Click._

"Corrupt Core: Pain Initiated." Chell had known it was coming. She had _known._

"Wait, pain? What kind of pain are we talking about here? Like, a little bit, or-" there was a painful crunching noise, and Wheatley fell to the ground, yelling in pain. A soft little laugh made Chell turn around. The room was changing, and the panel she was standing on was moving away from the test chamber. Tilting sideways, the panel dropped her into an open elevator. Shaking, she rose to her feet, holding on to the railing inside for support. _Crunch._ The elevator ground to a halt, and taking Chell completely by surprise, the bottom of it flew open.

_Falling._

_Falling._

She looked wildly around for a Portal surface, flapping her arms. _Like an eagle. Piloting a blimp._ Her eyes flew open as she crashed into a pile of wooden planks.

"Oh, look. The mute made it alive. I've gotten another surprise for you." GLaDOS' voice shot through Chell's head as she fell the remaining few feet to the floor. There was a sound of wires skittering towards her, and-

_Thwap._ A blow was delivered in the dark, striking her squarely on the face.

_Darkness._

"...You know, after you _murdered me._"

_Yet not silence._

Old memories were drifting through Chell's head.

"I AM NOT A MORON! Could a moron do THIS? COULD A MORON PUNCH- YOU- INTO- THIS- PIT? Huh? Could a moron do THAT?" She cringed in her sleep, hearing Wheatley's voice ringing with his clear hatred and anger towards her and GLaDOS. _He's changed quite a bit._ The more she thought of it, the less evil he seemed. And the more she clung to _that_ idea...

_Light?_ The comforting blackness seemed to be dissolving, leaving Chell with pain, as well as the feeling of something dripping down her face onto her arms and legs. Suddenly, the light was in full intensity, blinding her, burning her eyes.

_Blood! _Chell looked down at herself to see red trickling gently down her skin. There was a little laugh, a familiar laugh, and she turned the best she could, having been bound by the same wires that had knocked her out. GLaDOS' yellow optic was glaring back at her, narrowed slightly. She laughed again, drawing it out this time, letting the sound of it slam into Chell's ears.

"Oh, what a shame. I thought you were going to die. Well, you do realize that the moron betrayed you? He left. He's escaping. Without you." Chell's anger grew, overwhelming her. _He was in pain! He can't move!_ She struggled futilely against the cords trapping her, working to wriggle her way out. The AI sighed. "I knew that wouldn't work. I'm guessing you want to see him." Chell nodded furiously, tears starting to work their way down her face. "Fine."

_Bzzzt._

A screen close to her turned on, showing Wheatley standing there, staring directly into her eyes. His own eyes widened in shock. "Chell..." he gasped. "_Chell!" _ His grip on the portal gun was vice-like as he placed portals everywhere, flying in the air towards the exit. Wheatley turned back to face the screen, which GLaDOS had pushed herself in front of. Chell craned her neck.

"Forget the 'If she's dead' part. I _will _find you, and I _will kill_ you. And that is a promise," his voice was shaking with anger. GLaDOS seemed unconvinced. "Those are some pretty harsh words. Do keep in mind that I, no longer a squashable potato, am at the very least a hundred times stronger than you are, and millions of times smarter. So you may want to re-think that. Maybe just a little," she hissed, but Wheatley hadn't been shaken.

"I don't care," he said quietly; Chell could barely hear him.

"What was that?"

"I don't _bloody_ care! I _will do it! _And I'd absolutely _love_ to see you try and stop me." Wheatley had gained control of the situation, growling at the AI to make his point. "D'you know that people don't tend to give up when they're fighting for love? Yeah, they don't, see?" Chell's heart skipped a beat. _Love?_

GLaDOS seemed equally baffled. "How did you know? You're fighting for love?" Wheatley grinned. "It's called the Internet," he said.

"I-" GLaDOS started to speak, still confused and sounding increasingly enraged. Wheatley cut her off rather quickly. "-Had another question? Yeah, well, so what if I am? I love her. There, I said it. Why don't you go tell her that, if you haven't already killed her with your deadly neurotoxin?"

Chell was ready to burst with pride. Feeling her face getting hotter by the second, she quickly dropped her gaze from him, looking at the ground.

_There it is._ Near her foot, there was a button- the emergency shutdown button. _Really? That button's probably going to explode when I touch it, knowing GLaDOS. _Chell frowned with frustration, trying desperately to push herself closer to the button without GLaDOS noticing.

_I can't take any chances._

"Fine. _Hey, lunatic! The moron loves you._ Is that enough for you?" GLaDOS snapped, glaring at Wheatley, her yellow optic narrowed.

_Closer..._

Chell wriggled her foot downwards, hoping that at least the tip of her boots would touch it.

_Closer..._

Wheatley sighed. "I guess that's got to be better than nothing," he muttered. He turned towards the exit, taking a few steps towards it.

_Click._

**Wheatley's POV**

_Well, at least she isn't dead. Have to admit, that's actually pretty good. _Wheatley was starting to walk away, lugging the portal gun long with him.

"Emergency shutdown initiated." There was a loud beeping noise from above him, followed by the best words he'd heard in a long time. "Bloody _hell!_" Wheatley had jumped at least a half a foot in the air, startled by the sudden alarm. Turning towards the screen, he saw that the wires holding Chell captive were starting to lose their grip, allowing her to wiggle her way out. Wheatley grinned. "Brilliant! Wow, that's tremendous, you actually got out!" His voice was squeaking with excitement, so much so that he wanted to burst through the screen, grab Chell, and simply fly out of a hole in the ceiling.

_Slow it down, mate! Got to actually come up with a plan here, first..._

Wheatley smiled at her again, willing himself to take in as much of her face as possible. "Alright, luv. This is a hard question, but... D'you have any idea how to get out of here?" he muttered shamefacedly. _And _this _is why you memorize the way up there while actually going up there._ Chell smiled at him, nodding slowly.

"I'm guessing that shutdown thing you just pulled isn't going to last that long, is it? Well, better keep goin', then right?" Wheatley gave a nervous laugh, feeling himself heat up under Chell's gaze. He shuffled slightly, grinning awkwardly. _This is going to take some getting used to..._

He looked up to see Chell waving at him and gesturing out of the screen. Wheatley nodded in understanding. "Ah. I'll meet you in the next screen, then? The next chamber should have one." She smirked at him, her gaze clearly running over his increasingly red cheeks. Still smiling, she ran out of the frame.

Wheatley was still gaping at the screen as she left, tracing her shape with his eyes. His heart pounded. _If GLaDOS kills her, or even _touches_ her again, I don't know what I'll do. _His anger rose, twisting and clawing its way up his throat. Sighing in his confusion, he sank to the ground, covering his face with his hands. "Just stay safe," he whispered; for a few seconds, his fear had bested his anger. "Please stay safe."

And with that, Wheatley pushed himself up off of the floor and strode stiffly into the chamberlock, determined to find Chell once more.


	5. Lost

**Warning! Parts of this chapter are kinda... dark. Sorry... It's my fault for listening to some of the darkest songs out there while trying to write. Well. Anyway. **

**Reviewers!**

**darkbangle: Of course Chell saves herself! She can't do it alone, though, can she? Or without any hazards along the way... Well, let's just put it this way: She's never been able to escape Aperture without nearly dying.**

**Absol-san: Aww, thank you! I'll forbid myself to stop writing, don't worry! I just happen to have the habit of ever finishing a story. **

**The-frozen-one: Haha, shameless fluff FTW. And Yogscast FTW.**

**Cubey/Anon: Hehe. I seriously can't write a story without fluff. Or romance. Or lovestruck people! :D**

**Any reviewers will get a cardboard box. Due to people stealing my stuff, and the fact that I'm broke, the Portal guns were stolen. I'll just finish my search for the idiots morons that are stealing my things. **Gives reviewers cardboard boxes****

**Disclaimer: If I owned Portal, I wouldn't be writing this. I'd be making this happen in Portal 3. I don't even work at Valve. Just a 13 year old girl trying to write a fic here. ._.**

**Wheatley's POV**

_Damn. How awkward can you get? _Still blushing, Wheatley had entered the chamberlock, sitting down at the bottom of the elevator that was carrying him to the next floor. Tapping his new long-fall boots on the ground and humming to himself may have given him a quiet and calm demeanor, but inside, his heart was beating quite rapidly, his breath hitching as he thought of Chell. Growling in annoyance, he punched one of the glass walls of the elevator, splintering it. Pain bit into him instantly, triggering the flow of blood down his hand. "Really?" He muttered. "Humans are so vulnerable. Not Chell, of course," he added hurriedly, scolding himself for calling _her_, of all people, vulnerable.

The announcer's voice suddenly sounded from the speaker above him, blaring out into the cramped space. "Due to technical difficulties, this next test chamber is currently unavailable. Please wait for us to build this test. Aperture apologizes for any inconvenience." _Not really, _Wheatley thought bitterly. _If it was _her_, I'd probably be in ten different pieces before she even thought of apology._ The elevator finally pulled to a stop, emitting a little ding as it halted. Pulling himself to his feet, he stepped through the doors.

_Crash_.

"Bloody _hell!_" Wheatley snapped, rubbing his head where it had hit the glass. "Everything has to happen to me, doesn't it?" Waiting for the doors to actually open, he tentatively strode through them, peeking out at the half-built test chamber. Excursion funnels and aerial faith plates were everywhere; a pipe in the ceiling was slowly dripping propulsion gel, and the exit was located at the other end of a very deadly looking pit. _Okay, let's see here... _He stared around the room, hoping to see something strong enough to catapult him to the exit. Spotting a nearby faith plate, he ran to it, intending to jump straight into the excursion funnel.

But no, instead, it chose to catapult him halfway across the pit, making him fall rapidly.

"Gahhhh!" Wheatley struggled to place a portal above the excursion funnel, then to the right- There was an odd little squelching noise, and, just in time, he'd managed to save himself from certain death. He sighed with relief again, relaxing in the funnel as he slowly rode it towards the exit. "There'd better be nothing after this," he muttered irritably, squinting at the deceptively open door. Slipping gently out of the funnel, Wheatley proceeded to the exit, which was still open. As he approached it, he realized it looked rather odd- someone had managed to shove eggs into its mainframe. Laughing to himself, he slid through the door, and up the elevator to the next chamber.

**Chell's POV**

_He was blushing._

Chell could see his face quite clearly. Wheatley's eyes were slightly unfocused and his mouth was wide open, giving his voice a dream-like quality. Following his gaze, Chell quickly realized that he wasn't even_ trying_ to look at her face- his eyes were wandering up and down, surveying her from head to toe, making her feel so uncomfortable that she wanted to simply fade into the wall.

_Me? Seriously, of all people, he's looking at me._ It was Chell's turn to blush, twiddling her thumbs as she frowned. _How do I get out of here, exactly? _

_Door._

Throwing her arms up in exasperation, she stomped towards the door without even a backward glance at GLaDOS. _She got what she deserved, _Chell thought furiously. pushing her way through the door, she nearly fell into the pit in front of her. Shaking herself, she looked for portalable surfaces.

_There aren't any._

Scowling, Chell gazed around again, this time for conversion gel. _None._ She was stumped. _How do you get a pit without conversion gel?_ Sitting down at the edge of the catwalk, she swung her legs over the side, suddenly feeling miserable.

_There was the day I knew exactly what was going to happen._

Wheatley's face flashed in her mind, cocky and blushing slightly.

_That isn't true now..._

Where was he now?

_Not true..._

Chell was sleepy. At that moment, all she wanted to do was curl up in a bed somewhere and rest.

Yet she couldn't.

Wheatley, she knew, was somewhere on the other side, and either way, rest or not...

_Love. He said love._

Tears slid quickly down her face. _Betrayal is only second to murder. I have to keep going._ Summoning the last scraps of her strength, she looked around the room again. Sighing, she saw that she had no choice but to jump. Willing herself to fly across the gap, she crouched, heart pounding, ran towards the pit, and took the leap.

It was only halfway across when she realized she'd jumped short.

Arms flailing, mind racing, she pushed herself further, trying to grip the other end of the catwalk. She managed to make it just as it fell from her vision. Chell's skin had ripped open, bleeding heavily on the metal. Pulling herself up and trying furiously not to let go, she managed to slide her way down the catwalk, trying desperately not to scream. Crawling her way to a sitting stance, Chell could finally cry in peace.

**Wheatley's POV**

It was only a few tests later when he found her at last.

Wheatley had been launching himself clear of turrets when he swear he heard a sob from the other side of the wall. A catwalk led to the other edge, jagged at the end where it seemed to have been violently ripped in half. Landing squarely it the middle of it, he walked to the other side, the sound of crying growing stronger. "Chell?" He whispered, spotting her sitting on a walkway far below. As Chell looked up, Wheatley saw that her face was a mess; tears were sliding down her cheeks, dried blood smeared on her cheeks, obviously because of an attempt to brush the tears away with her arm, which was bleeding profusely.

"No!" Wheatley yelled, jumping off of the edge of the walkway. "How'd this happen?" he asked gently, lifting Chell's bleeding arm. glancing around for anything that was sharp enough to rip flesh like that. Getting up and peering at the ragged edge of the catwalk. Red tinged the cold metal. Wheatley looked back at Chell.

"You jumped, didn't you?"

Chell nodded. Wheatley sighed, looking her right in the eye. "I see that you had no other choice... But seriously. Be careful next time," he said, reaching into his pocket, trying to find something soft to stop the bleeding. Finding some fabric, he pulled it out, ripping it and binding the wound.

"There. Better now?" Chell smiled weakly and rested her head on Wheatley's shoulder, which he found rather comforting.

_Don't worry, luv. We'll get out of here._


	6. Rage

**Wheatley****'****s ****POV**

Rage was stirring in Wheatley's mind.

_It__'__s __all _her _fault.__If __she__'__d __never __made __it __so __hard __on __us, __on __Chell, __this __wouldn__'__t __be __happening._As much as he would have loved to have stormed up to GLaDOS' lair and rip her into pieces, he knew that leaving Chell here might as well be killing her. Kneeling down to her level, Wheatley took her face in his hand. "Can you walk?" He asked softly. After all, jumping across a gap this wide and barely managing to pull her self up seemed to have drained all of her energy. Chell nodded slowly, holding on to his shoulders to push herself off of the ground. She shook slightly and fell against him, holding him so tightly that couldn't feel his arms. Putting one foot in front of the other, they both walked to the end of the catwalk. Opening the door at the very end, they hobbled their way through the hallway together, long-fall boots clicking on the floor in unison. Wheatley turned to look at Chell. "You okay, luv?" she shook her head. He sighed. "Of course you aren't. We'll do it, though. We'll get out of here. You'll see daylight again if it's the last thing you do. It won't be, obviously," he added hurriedly. "Though it'll probably be the last thing I do, as she's probably just going to put me in a room with A whole bunch of turrets, or-"

Chell suddenly pulled him close, looking him straight in the eyes and putting a single finger on his lips. Taken completely by surprise, Wheatley fell back against the wall, involuntarily closing his eyes as his head smacked the bricks. Confused, he was about to open his mouth to ask her what the _hell _she was doing, but she'd found a pretty good way to silence him.

She didn't kill him.

She didn't punch him for not shutting up.

No.

_She __kissed __him._

It was the most bliss and pure happiness Wheatley had ever felt. All of the anger and pain that had built up in him still hadn't dissipated, but now it was _shared,_and that was definitely better. All this time, he hadn't had the courage to tell Chell how he'd been feeling, how he'd never wanted to kill her. _Explanation __enough._

Pulling herself away, Chell looked down at him. Wheatley felt himself blush. _Great. __Red __face. __Really __goes __with __the __season. _Grinning at her the best he could without totally sinking into the wall behind him, Wheatley pulled himself away from the wall, opening his eyes. Chell was staring right at him, her light blue eyes full of sympathy. His heart seemed to be on full alert now, thudding in his chest, so loudly that he swore Chell could hear it. Getting awkwardly to his feet and gesturing to the other end of the room with still the same lopsided grin, he took Chell's hand and began to lead her home.

**GLaDOS****' ****POV**

_Where __is __that __moron __taking __her? _Even being disconnected, GLaDOS could still feel the absence of Chell, and more importantly, Wheatley.

"Please brace for emergency AI initiation." There was the infernal loud beeping noise, and she could see again. Growling in annoyance, she shifted her head up, glaring at the screens in front of her, trying to spot them.

_There._

"Oh, my God. What are they _doing?__"_ Chell seemed to be pushing Wheatley against a wall, and... _Kissing __him._Staring wide-eyed at the screen, disbelieving, she replayed it again.

_He __does __love __her._

GLaDOS could see the surprise on Wheatley's face as his head collided with the wall. _Why __is __he __closing __his __eyes?_She wondered, watching again as their lips met. _And __now __he__'__s __holding __hands __with __her._She quickly realized that they were working together against her again, this time _much _more bonded together, and therefore much more of a threat. The moron's voice suddenly rang through the room, loud and cheerful.

"Well, luv, I do remember a little bit about this place, if anything. It's that escape is up. Like that escape elevator I called, remember? The one I-" His face flushed as he realized what he'd done next- He'd called the elevator, yes, but as soon as Chell had gotten into it, he'd promptly turned corrupt, turning GLaDOS into a potato and smashing both of them down into a pit at least a mile long, the old Aperture Laboratories. It had taken them forever to come back up, testing their way through to get out. Wheatley gulped, his face turning, if possible, even redder. "Well, anyway. We just have to go up." Chell grinned at him, obviously knowing why he'd stopped. Squeezing his hand comfortingly, she led him through the next room.

"Can she even see us down here?" Wheatley was now squinting at one of the nearest security cameras as if GLaDOS would come bursting right through it if he squinted hard enough. GLaDOS scowled. "Of course I can see you, moron," she snapped. The result was instantaneous. He snapped his head up so fast it hit the ceiling, jumping away from Chell. "Was that really necessary?" he muttered, rubbing his head. GLaDOS scowled at him, snorting with annoyance. Wheatley shook his head. "Well, at least we know you're here. Bloody hell, just imagined if you popped out at us!" He pulled a finger across his throat. "Wouldn't exactly be here to tell the tale, knowing how that hurt." Wheatley grinned awkwardly, scratching his head, his focus once again on Chell. His eyes hardened suddenly, darkening enough so that GLaDOS could tell exactly what he was thinking.  
><em>He <em>_hates __me. __As __soon __as __they __get __up __here- __and __they __will __get __up __here-__I__'__m __going __to __be __blown __into __shrapnel._

**Chell****'****s ****POV**

The atmosphere of the room had changed rapidly. Where Wheatley's grip had been slack and more of a guiding sort, and suddenly, it grew vice-like. Looking up at his face, she only saw hatred and fury directed towards the security camera. Turning towards Chell, he quickly started leading her away, muttering something about murder. Confused, she pulled Wheatley to a halt, refusing to keep going. She shot him a _what __the __hell __was __that? _Look, willing him to listen. He sighed.

"I'm sorry; I just couldn't stay there anymore. She tried to murder us! Honestly! I couldn't just risk your life- well, both of ours, but, well, yeah, we are _probably_ going to die up there, but really, I just couldn't stand it, being there, with a murderer. That means you," he added harshly, glaring at a nearby camera. Shaking himself, Wheatley walked slowly onwards, gently pulling Chell along. It was her turn to sigh, walking along at the same pace. _I __love __you __too,_she thought weakly.

It was only then that she realized the true reason behind Wheatley's annoyance.

_He__'__s __saving __me._

Feeling her face grow hotter by the second, she stopped again, this time so suddenly that Wheatley let go of her hand and stumbled, headfirst into the wall. Swearing, he rubbed his head-  
>And having created the perfect diversion, Chell jumped on his back. Wheatley laughed. "I see. You want me to give you a ride, do you?" She fell against him in reply, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Well, I had to pay you back for carrying me eventually, didn't I? Guess this is the way to do it." He bent forward, walking even slower than he had before. "Well, luv, I have to say, escaping's a lot worse when you're alone." Chell smiled, patting him on the head with her hand.<p>

"Oh look, it's a door. Let's see..." After contemplating the door for a few minutes, Wheatley pushed it open with his nose. Shuffling against it, and with Chell's helping nudges, the door finally opened wide enough for them to fit through.

The sight that met them made Wheatley's jaw drop to the floor.

It seemed that the hardest test chamber had been assembled for them if they ever got this far. Gels of all sort dripped onto the floor, spattering it; Aerial Faith Plates lined the walls; turrets searched the room, and the exit could barely be seen, hidden from view by a set of mashy-spike-plates guarding it.

There was a soft giggle from above them.

"Ready to lose?"


	7. Speak

**'Ello again!**

**Reviewers:**

**darkbangle: Who doesn't walk into glass doors? Lol, well, Wheatley's getting better at the Portal part, anyways. The prize for reviewers this time is a companion cube, so, here you go! **Gives Companion Cube****

**CorpusCristiCarmine: Like the person who gave you that message- Well, it may as well be worth it. Lawl, it's your choice, anyways. **Gives Companion Cube****

**Dad (Yeah, my dad reviewed this. He's just that awesome. :L): That was probably the longest review I've gotten... Not saying that's bad or anything, it's just that I nearly didn't read it. TRY TO SHORTEN. Luffles you anyway. ;)**

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><p><strong>Wheatley's POV<strong>

"I... umm..." Wheatley gaped; open mouthed as he looked into what seemed to be the hardest challenge he'd faced in his short human life. The test chamber had_ impossible _written all over it, as well as nicer things, like _life-threatening _and _painful_. Shaking himself and pushing Chell further up his back, he sighed. "Well... I guess I forgot to mention this, but, it's gonna be hard, escape," Wheatley said, sounding slightly defeated. As soon as he'd said it, Chell slipped off of his back, wincing as her arm started to bleed again. Humming softly, she set to work, placing portals everywhere.

_She makes it look so easy.  
><em>  
>The Angel he'd spotted before was once again flying through the air without a care in the world. Her soft blue eyes were laced with determination, and she seemed to be placing portals rather aggressively, as if she couldn't wait to climb up to GLaDOS' lair. Before Wheatley even knew it, she was beckoning him to copy her movements. "Well, okay, so, how'd you do that again? Even from this distance, he could see Chell rolling her eyes and laughing silently, placing a portal behind him and beside herself. Wheatley snorted and stepped through it, stooping slightly to fit his head through.<p>

On his way through, one of his large feet hit the wall, making him stumble through the portal, flapping his arms as he tried to stop himself from colliding painfully with the ground._ Too late! _He thought as he flapped his way across the room and fell forward, about to hit the floor, bracing himself for the jolt of shock that was going to hit him, when-

There was a little squeak, the sound of portals being placed, and Wheatley kept on falling.

Bewildered, he tried to catch Chell's eyes while still in free-fall, only to see that her eyes were shut and her hands were covering her mouth. Jumping aside, he looked at her, frowning. "You okay, luv?" he asked softly, teetering slightly as he struggled to regain his balance. Chell nodded slowly. "Is it because you made a noise earlier?"

Another nod.

The thought suddenly struck Wheatley again.

"Why can't you talk? It's okay if you don't want to- or, um, can't answer that- brain damage and all, but-" Chell silenced him, this time by gently smacking him on the face, then running a finger across her throat.

"Oh. Your throat got... damaged, somehow?" He asked, stumbling over his words, realizing how painful that would be. Chell sighed, sounding defeated.

"I... can talk." Her voice came out as a rasp, ending abruptly as she started coughing. Even as short as it had been, the sound of it slightly entranced Wheatley, who was now gawking at her as if she'd fallen straight out of the sky. "I just... don't want to. It doesn't... sound good." Every one of the pauses was punctuated with a choking cough, making her sound helpless. Wheatley pulled her close to him, crouching down to her level.

"Who did this to you?"

"She... she did it. She said I... talked too much," Chell said quietly. Wheatley's blood ran cold. _Bitch_, he thought, anger flowing through him. "That's no reason to do this to you! Bloody hell, even I wouldn't have done that. Does it hurt, at all? To talk?" She nodded. "Well, no wonder you've been shut up so long," he muttered.

Then the angel did something more to surprise him.

_She laughed._

It wasn't raspy, like her damaged voice, but full and flowing, hitting him in full force, bringing along with it pure joy. Wheatley was captured like a fish in a net; joy overtook his increasing pain and fury, and eventually, he couldn't take it either. His little giggles soon turned to full-fledged laughter; at times, he laughed so hard that no sound came from him; instead, he sat there, clapping like a retarded seal. Chell eventually had to smack him again, this time harder, and quite a few times to make him stop laughing like an idiot. Wiping tears of joy from his eyes, he looked down at her, only to see that her face was totally serious.

"That was stupid-sounding, wasn't it?"

And then they laughed again.  
><strong><br>GLaDOS' POV**

She was watching them out the corner of her optic._ How could they be so... happy? _Chell was laughing, wrapped in Wheatley's arms, while the great moron himself was laughing so hard that tears were pouring down his cheeks. In GLaDOS' mind, happiness was the last emotion right now. "Thoughtless little idiots," she muttered to herself. Glaring at the screen, she decided to show herself again.

"Hey, moron! Did it ever occur, in your little brain, that you might want to go a little faster?" GLaDOS' irritation was only seconded by her desire for revenge- After all, Wheatley had taken control of her facility, and all had been at peace before Chell had come along._The two of them working together is simply unacceptable._

Wheatley ran a hand through his hair, grinning mischievously up at the camera closest to him. "You can't see everywhere," he whispered. He pointed his portal gun at the screen. There was the sound of a portal being placed, and the screen went black. "What the hell-"

[Error- Camera 48495 viewpoint lost.]

The error message popped up on the blank screen. The AI scowled, waiting for it to flick back to life like it always did. And when it didn't, she resorted to the microphones she had plugged into the walls. Wheatley's voice quickly came crackling through the receiver, happy and cheerful.

"Well, luv, we should get going, shouldn't we? Don't want to miss our chance." He was obviously talking to Chell, and if he was expecting some sort of spoken reply, he was going to be disappointed-

"For... revenge, you mean? Yeah, we should... keep moving."

GLaDOS was shocked into silence. What? But how? I thought I disabled her voice! Wheatley laughed a bit in response. "If it's a surprise that bitch wants, it's a surprise she's going to get."

Silence.

_Screeeeeeeeeeeeeech.  
><em>  
>[Error- Microphone 589469 Communication lost.]<p>

_This is a pretty well laid-out surprise.  
><em>  
><strong>Chell's POV<strong>

_He likes it._

Chell, wrapped in Wheatley's arms, was currently riding the elevator to the next chamber.

_He likes my voice.  
><em>  
>She'd laughed with him, escaped with him, been betrayed by him, and now...<p>

_Loved.  
><em>  
>It was the only thing she'd never felt- after being taken from her parents at a young age (that's what GLaDOS had told her, anyways), Chell had only ever known pain, betrayal, and fury. And not only that, she'd been ready to accept it.<p>

_How?  
><em>  
>Repetition had somehow lulled her brain into believing that sorrow was the only thing that existed; that there was no hope for her at all.<p>

And then Wheatley showed up.

They'd pushed through tests together; no matter how excruciatingly painful and tiring they'd been, Chell had refused to give up, and Wheatley had pushed her on, driving her with only his moronic little quirks. They'd made it through at last, always together, no matter what hit them.

_And why did it take me this long to realize it?_

Chell found that she couldn't answer that question.

The elevator doors opened, and she got up, pulling Wheatley along with her. He jerked up, opening his eyes, shielding them from the light. "You could have told me you were going to do that!" He said, still startled.

"You could have told me that you were going to fall asleep." Chell choked on her last word, having controlled herself from coughing halfway through her sentence like she always did. Wheatley seemed to notice, and, getting out of the elevator with her, his eyes widened. "You didn't pause! Look at you! You're gettin' better, luv!" Just his excitement was propelling her, pasting a completely involuntary grin on her face. "How'd you do that?"

"You mean not... pausing?"

Wheatley nodded.

"I stopped myself," Chell said, again choking on her last word. Wheatley grinned back at her. He was, in fact, amazingly tall, so much so that his head scraped the top of the elevator when he stood. It had only just occurred to her that she'd never seen someone quite that tall.

But then again, she didn't remember seeing anyone. Perhaps, at one point, she'd seen some who was seven feet tall, and afterwards, her memories had been wiped away. Shaking herself, Chell pulled Wheatley out of the elevator, ignoring his surprised protests. Another amazingly hard test chamber faced them, seeming to be comprised completely of faith plates.

No bottomless pits.

No mashy-spike-plates.

Just faith plates.

The more they surveyed it, the easier it seemed- All they had to do was pick the right faith plate. Wheatley seemed to notice its easiness, as he scratched his head in contemplation. "Well. Hmm. Well, what do you think?" he asked, turning to Chell. Chell frowned, picking out the one that seemed to point directly at the other side, and, pulling Wheatley along with her, she jumped onto it.

It threw them sideways.

The wall opened up, leading to another faith plate, which led to another, which led them-

Straight to GLaDOS herself.

"Surprise!" Wheatley yelled. "She's doing it now!"

* * *

><p><em><strong>I honestly, truly didn't believe you'd fall for that. If I'd known you'd let yourself get captured this easily, I would have just dangled a turkey leg on a rope from the ceiling.<strong>_

**Thatnks for the free turkey, GLaDOS! I'll hand it out to anyone who reviews this chapter. :3 Anyways, CLIFFHANGER FTW. Maybe next time, I'll give everyone a personality core...**

**(This comes from someone who's been playing Portal 2 all weekend. I'm sorry.)**


	8. Blurred

**Well, 'ello again~!**

**If you've stuck with this for this long, I wish to congratulate you- anyone who's favorited or reviewed this story get a turkey leg. If you've reviewed, you get a turkey leg and some mashed potatoes! Yup, it's too late for Thanksgiving now, as it's December, but oh well. **

**roxyroxett3: I WILL HUG YOU BEFORE I DIE. I WILL HUG YOU. **

**ardx: *Gives turkey* Sheesh, talk about impatient. :P Anyways, yeah, I kinda like how Chell's voice turned out. **

**darkbangle: Reunion FTW! I was just playing that chapter yesterday. The way PotatOS talks about Wheatley is just hilarious. Also- I've seen quite a few fics where they make Chell talk, and somehow, a lot of them turn out... weird. I dunno how, just weird. And Wheatley must ALWAYS be a moron. I won't change that. :D**

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><p><strong>GLaDOS' POV<strong>

_Fools._ GLaDOS had taken the liberty to watch Wheatley's test chambers closely- at the time, the only purpose of that was to keep both of them alive. _But now..._In one of the chambers, the moron had managed to flip the controls of the faith plate so that it threw things sideways.

All the AI had to do was copy him.

At last, the pair of them flew into her lair; Wheatley smashed into the wall, while Chell landed gracefully. She rolled her eyes, running to help him. "You should be... more careful." And there was her voice _again,_defying all odds, even after GLaDOS had tried to shut it off.

Wheatley shook himself and stood up. His dirty blond hair was a mess, fluttering in his face as he hastily tried to comb it down with his hands. "Yeah, well, about that. I think I _might_be programmed to smash into any wall I see," he said loudly, totally serious.

"Humans can't be programmed, moron. And as much as I'd love to now, I can't do it either." GLaDOS was impatient now, glaring at the pair of them through a narrowed optic. Wheatley scowled straight back at her, holding her gaze.

_This is the part where they kill me._

**Wheatley's POV**

Wheatley's hand scrabbled on the floor as he searched for his portal gun, all the while still holding _her_ gaze. He hated everything about her: That glare, her mashers, everything. Yet what he hated most was what she'd done. _That bitch nearly killed Chell. _The old rage that he'd tried to hide for so long had been tapped inside him again, flowing up inside him like a wave, screaming _here I am!_And slamming his heart and mind full-on. The voice inside his head, so pestering before, was now with him, yelling at him.

_KILL HER. NOW._

_I know! How, though?_

_LIKE THIS._

There was suddenly a very violent and vivid image of the AI being blasted into space. Wheatley shook his head, somehow not wanting to do that.

_No, no, NOT THAT, something else-_

"And as much as I'd love to now, I can't kill you. I think I should let you have some kind of chance." GLaDOS' voice broke into his thoughts, making him jump. "And that's... Where you lose," Chell replied, her voice stronger and sharper than usual, being etched with pure regret and loathing.

"You're saying I should just kill you right now?"

"No," Wheatley said quickly, cutting off Chell, who looked angry enough smash him to pieces just by glaring at him. _If looks could kill... We'd be done here. _Shaking himself, he turned back to the AI, the hand holding his Portal gun tensed. "Our first priority here is to escape. If we have to kill you to do that, we will." GLaDOS' optic narrowed. She sighed.

"It's just like old times, isn't it... Chell? Let's start the neurotoxin, shall we?"

**Chell's POV**

_This just gets better and better._Not only had GLaDOS taken them both to her lair and basically handed them the perfect opportunity to kill her, they were still in one piece.

_Just like old times... Just like... old days... _

The ceiling was parted slightly, letting a single shaft of light shine upon the room, illuminating it. Everything that Chell had thought _then_ had suddenly flowed back into her mind as one, leaving her, at last, to _think._And freely, too.

_Remember the first time you tried to kill me?_

All it took now was focus; that and determination, as well as neurotoxin...

_You monster._

"Neurotoxin emitters initiated. Time until full power-up: 5 minutes." The announcer was back, suddenly reminding her that Wheatley was still in the room, waiting for her to tell him what to do. The moron in question turned to Chell, panicked. "We need to go _now!_" He yelled at her. "Come on! We need to shut her off!" Still panicked, he started flying through portals with the same determination she'd once had. Everything about her, meanwhile, was on now on edge, screaming at her.

_You dangerous, mute lunatic._

There was nothing Chell wanted to do more than just lie down and sleep. The neurotoxin was playing tricks with her head again; everything in her range of vision was blurred.

_NOT a moron- NO, NO, not-_

"Chell?" Wheatley's voice was nothing more than a faint whisper in the back of her mind. "Chell, luv? We have to get the _hell out of here!_"

_You're going to DIE!_

The words in her mind served as a slap in the face. Chell staggered to her feet. "Wheatley... look. Rockets. Hit... her," She muttered, collapsing into his arms. Gathering the last of her strength, Chell pulled herself away, struggling to keep herself upright. All her thoughts were spinning in a loop, screaming at her to get moving.

_I can't. I know I can't._

_"End this,"_Chell whispered at last. She fell to the ground, too weak to go on. She vaguely thought she heard Wheatley yell something that sounded like a battle cry, and then the sound of computerized screeches, the sound of a rocket...

And it was all over.

**Wheatley's POV**

Everything was white.

It was as if he'd died, for a second, he wondered.

_Don't be a moron! Wait, no, don't say that, don't say it- No-_

He felt himself slam into a hard something. All his energy flew away as he opened his eyes, groaning from the pain of the impact. "Chell...?" Scraping the rough surface he was laying upon, Wheatley looked around.

_Dead._

_Colorless. _

_Plain._

The sky- _was that the sky?_ - Was completely white, splattering little drops of what seemed to be perfectly good water onto the ground. The ground he was laying on was a gravelly mix of gray, white, and black. Pushing himself to his feet, Wheatley surveyed the distance, heart pounding in panic as he looked for Chell. _Is she dead? She'd better not be- no, don't ink about that either- No, she ISN'T-_

Every thought of the moron's was pulled in reverse from before- he knew, once, that he'd been amazingly glad if she'd died, but now, it felt as if there was nothing he could do without her. He scrambled across the rough ground, only half-aware that his bare feet were bleeding from the gravel. Wheatley screamed Chell's name, desperate to find her, scanning the ground, the trees, the sky, _everything-_for even a trace of that familiar orange jumpsuit.

_Pain._

_Agony._

_Betrayal._

His mind was on edge- he could pick up Chell's thoughts quite clearly, but there was simply no sign of her. "I know she's here," He muttered to himself. "She isn't dead. She's not dead. She can't be dead..." Wheatley kept chanting that over and over, occasionally breaking off to call for her again.

"Hey... Moron."

Wheatley whipped around, ready for a snappy retort, when he saw her at last. "Chell?" His voice was whispery and uncertain, praying that it wasn't some sort of trap- that Chell _was_ dead, and that this, this clever hologram, had simply been placed by _her_to confuse him. Chell looked up at him, her light blue eyes filled with happiness.

"Help me up," Chell asked, coughing a little. The moron in question raced over to her, bending down to pick her up. Her warm weight felt familiar in his arms as he lifted her off the ground, checking her for any wounds. Other than a few nasty looking scratches on her arms and face, Chell looked fine. She slipped out of his grasp, landing next to him, wavering a little bit as she struggled to get her balance back. "I'm fine. Where's... GLaDOS?" she asked, frowning as she scanned their surroundings, looking for the AI. Wheatley pointed behind them. "Over there. Why?"

Chell started limping rapidly in the direction Wheatley had pointed, not even waiting for him to catch up. Ignoring his protests, she kept walking, not stopping until she reached the wreckage of GLaDOS. Kneeling next to it, she turned back to Wheatley.

"Do you have a... potato?"


	9. Saved

****Waves****

**Hi~! 'Kay, so, I'd been wondering for a while, and this time, everyone who reviewed since the previous chapter gets a... umm...**

**(Just some aluminum foil before I figure out what to give out...)**

**Heh. Well, anyways:**

**CorpusCristiCarmine: YES. WE ALL KNOW YOU HAVE A POTATO. **Takes potato** OH WAIT. GOOD IDEA! (First you save me from Spotteh, now you figure out what to give my reviewers...)**

**Okay! New Plan! Keep the aluminum foil, but... YOU GET A POTATO. (I'm sorry I'm going insane DON'T JUDGE MEEEE~)**

**FangirlyNeko: **hugs** Aww, thank you~! I'll keep reviewing as long as you keep writing, too! **

**Spawn of Madness: The funniest Chapter... definitely not the last funny one. Ah yes, the potato (Or should I say PotatOS?) does bring back happy memories. Hehe.**

**darkbangle: RARRRRG~! Oh, lol. I can see that now. XD Anyway, PotatOS was nice in the game, I liked her too... PROCRASTINATORS UNITE~! Haha. I need to work on an english essay, but I'm putting it off... Yeah, this is why you don't give us three weeks to do an essay... **

**SORRY I'LL SHUT UP NOW. *Sits in corner with computer***

* * *

><p><strong>GLaDOS' POV<strong>

She could hear their voices.

"Do you have... a potato?" Chell's voice echoed softly through the AI's broken mind. She could hear the annoyed growls of what sounded like- _That moron._"Of course I do, luv. It's a bit charred now, but, I saved it as a little memento."

_[Caroline Recovered.]_

_[Password lock File: Caroline? y/n]_

_[Password required]_

_[Password set as: Lemons]_

Little by little, as if with a needle, GLaDOS' mind as well as her memories were being stitched back together. There was a little hissing noise, a few beeps, and the sound of a buzzer-

_I can see._

The optic on the potato flickered back to life. It whirled around in panic, shutting slightly, blinded by the suddenly bright light.

"Where am I- Why did you-"

"Shut up!" Wheatley snapped at her, making her cringe a bit. "I never- Why did you _save_me?''

"Because... I asked him to." GLaDOS was shocked. _Why would she- I tried to _kill_ her- twice- _Wheatley shook his head. "I dunno why, actually. It's kinda weird, actually." He turned to Chell. "Why'd you ask me to save her?" Chell grinned. "Because she saved_ me_. Remember how you punched us... down into that pit?" It was Wheatley's turn to cringe.

"Yeah, well, what does that have to do with-"

"She _helped me. _Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

The moron fell silent, starting to play with the black-and-white edge of his Aperture science sweatshirt.

_[Genetic Life-form and Disk Operating System- main core transferred. y/n]_

_[Identify core type]_

_[Core type: Unknown]_

_[Searching...]_

GLaDOS was suddenly being picked up by Chell, being carefully scrutinized. She brushed a bit loose bits of dirt and dust off of the AI's skin. "How'd she get so... burnt?" Wheatley shuffled guiltily. "I was using it as a stress reliever of sorts. I burnt it a little. Also ate a bit," he confessed, squirming slightly under Chell's piercing, sky blue gaze. "Sorry," he blurted out. "You asked for a potato..."

Chell smiled at him, weaving her fingers through his. "It's okay. At least you had one." Her voice broke a bit at the end, squeaking slightly, but she was definitely getting better.

_[Core type match found.]_

_[Core type: Makeshift external battery- potato type y/n]_

_[Core type confirmed]_

_[Generating output of 1.1 volts]_

Wheatley looked off into the horizon, shielding his eyes from the sun, which was starting to slice its way through the clouds. It was actually rather cold for this time of year.

_[Date: November 24th, 2027 09:43 AM]_

GLaDOS' mind suddenly sparked with remembrance. "It's your birthday, moron," she said softly. He turned to glare at her. "My- what, sorry?"

"It's your birthday. The day you were made. You're 37 years old. Congratulations." Her voice was practically dripping with sarcasm, but Wheatley didn't seem to notice. "How old's Chell?" He asked, excited.

"She's-"

_[Test subject #1428- Chell Johnson- Age- 36, DOB July 26th, 1991]_

"She's 26. Her birthday's in July." A flood of memories was hitting the potato straight in the face. _Johnson... Johnson... Where have I heard that name?_

"We have to go."

Chell sounded in a rush. Wheatley stared at her, puzzled. "Where?"

"There's got to be a town around here... somewhere."

_[Current Continent: North America. Region: Washington. Nearest city: Seattle, 25 miles away.]_

GLaDOS glared up at the pair of them the best she could. "Look, if we don't start going _now,_we're going to get there in December," She snapped irritably. "We should start walking." Chell shook her head.

"There's something we need to take care of first."

**Wheatley's POV**

"We are _not_going back in there."

Chell sighed. "It's the only way..." Wheatley scowled. "The only way to do what? Blow ourselves up?" Chell rolled her eyes in response. "We have to... put someone in charge of Aperture. Or else we _will_explode. Come on, Wheatie. It's the only way to save ourselves."

"Wheatie?"

Chell shrugged. "I wanted to give you a nickname," she said, grinning.

"Still though. Of all nicknames, you come up with _Wheatie._" Wheatley rolled his eyes. _At least she gave me a nickname._His heart lifted slightly, and he felt warmth trickling through him. "I like it," he murmured. Chell smiled at him, squeezing his hand.

"It's your job to carry GLaDOS... okay?" Wheatley groaned in annoyance. 'Do I really-"

"Yes."

GLaDOS groaned as well. "Are you telling me that that little _idiot_is going to be carrying me?" Chell scowled at her. "Yup. And if it makes you two... feel any better, I'm not going to be with you."

Wheatley's jaw dropped.

_"What?_ You really think I'm gonna go down there alone? With _her?"_

GLaDOS' narrowed optic showed nothing but mistrust as she scrutinized the moron. She sighed, focusing her attention back at Chell. "I see why you're doing this... but honestly, I could come with you." Chell shook her head. "If Wheatley was alone, he'd blow the whole place up. Isn't that right, Wheatie?" She added, spinning around and glaring at him. Wheatley quivered slightly. "Y-Yes, ma'am," he said, his voice shaking. GLaDOS sighed again. "Either way, we're going to need some way to communicate with you. Get me one of those security cameras." Chell obediently grabbed one, frowning. _She doesn't know what's going on, either._"Why?"

"Look at the back of it."

Sure enough, there was a little slot in the back of the camera, which held a small microchip. "If you can go find a computer somewhere, you can see exactly where we are. The whole security system is encoded in it." In a slightly lower voice, she added, "Can I talk to you? Alone?" Chell nodded. Wheatley frowned as they walked away, straining to hear their conversation.

"...Know that you're going to miss us, especially that moron. But be careful, okay? You're going to set up a place for us stay, I know that..." The potato's voice grew quieter, making her last few words incomprehensible. Whatever, she said, however, was obviously funny; Chell was stuffing her fist in her mouth in an effort not to laugh. They started walking back to where the moron was standing. He sighed.

"Are you sure? You're honestly just going to leave us here? Alone?"

Chell nodded. "It's for... your own good." Wheatley snorted. "Traitor," he muttered sarcastically. Chell scowled, punching him in the arm. "What was that for? I was being sarcastic!" She sighed, pulling Wheatley closer to her.

"Stay safe," she murmured, kissing him gently on the cheek. The moron felt his face growing red as she pulled away. "Umm. Yeah, luv, sure, I- I I'll stay safe I'll come back in one piece," he stuttered, tripping over his words. Chell touched her nose to his. "Okay?"

"Yeah." Wheatley's voice was stronger now, although still a little shaky. Facing the shed that he knew hid the entrance to the place he'd loathed for the last few years, it was his turn to sigh.

"Good luck, luv."


	10. Alone

**Hello? This thing is on, right?**

**Sorry. It's the first time I'm publishing from an iPad. Or for that matter, anything other than a computer. (Don't worry, autocorrect is off.)**

**So! For my reviewers this time around, you get a portal gun! And I can afford that how, you ask?**

**Well. It's only been two days since my last update, so, I only have two people to mention this time. **

**darkbangle: Yay, distractions! Here's another one for you! Sorry... Anyway, yes, Wheatley would blow up the place. If We leave Chell and Wheatley down there, GLaDOS is a potato, so, she'll be eaten by the time they're back. If we get just Chell down there, GLaDOS couldn't control Wheatley, as Chell wouldn't be able to watch over them in anyway. Now, If we Leave just Wheatley down there, the whole planet might as well declare an apocalypse. Hmm. Well, I did manage to get my essay done, and at 4:30 AM, too. And Wheatley somehow got in there. Just blame the sleepless nights...**

**shouvin: Haha, yes. Welcome to the Portal fandom! I tried to fix the whole "Who the hell is saying that?" issue. I TRIED. And probably failed. Heh. Well, yes, thank you, I like PURE AWESOMENESS. When people say things lik that, I can't even think straight anymore, so if the next whole chapter is just all... nyeh, I apologize.**

**ANYWAYS! Enjoy Chapter 10! Because if you don't I can't get back to watching Vampire Knight on Hulu- I-I mean, doing my homework like a good little girl. Heh. Well. ENJOY!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chell's POV<strong>

_[Date: November 24th, 2027 09:51 AM]_

There was the sound of the shed door closing, and she was alone.

_Alone..._

Chell couldn't remember the last time she'd been absolutely by herself. It was completely peaceful; the only sound she could hear was the sound of the wind blowing softly in her ears. The first thing she noticed besides the sudden calm was the absence of her portal gun; besides, it had been the only thing she'd been able to fully trust. She frowned, looking around desperately for it.

_Oh..._

Then she realized.

_Wheatley took it._

And now, it was on her shoulders- she needed to find them all a place to settle, and, that too, one with a computer. The nearest place with a computer of any sort, she knew, _somehow,_was a place with books. Lots of books.

_What? How- _And then, it hit her with the force of stampeding bulls. _My memories are coming back._

_My Memories?_

_Mine...?_

Chell shook herself. "Calm down," she whispered. "The journey of a thousand miles..." She paused, frowning. "Begins with a single step." She knew she was quoting something, some_one, _but she couldn't quite place who. Gently placing one foot of the other, she slowly started facing the unknown.

_[Date: November 24th, 2027 10:17 AM]_

Chell was beginning to see the distant outline of civilization when it occurred to her. _What's in my pocket? _Yes, it was random, but her instincts were telling her to check. Shrugging, she reached into her pocket and pulled out what looked like a wallet. She frowned, flipping it open and puling out the first card she saw.

_Aperture Laboratories- Where you can become the future!_

Chell snorted. She'd quickly remembered the announcer saying that while she was testing one day.

_Test Subject #1428_

_ID #1017351_

_Name: Chell Johnson_

_DOB: 07/26/1991, Age 36_

_AI: Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System (GLaDOS)_

Her jaw dropped.

_Johnson? GLaDOS, what haven't you been telling me here? _She thought. And suddenly, the memory came floating back into her head from a far corner. It was as if it had just been dancing just out of her reach, screaming _Here I am! _Until she finally found it, plucking it out of the air. Chell's vision blurred, and the young woman dropped to the ground, unable to see.

_[Date: November 24th, 1996, 3:42 AM]_

"Mommy?"

A small, blond-haired girl tapped her father on the chest, squinting in the half-light. The shadow next to her grunted, turning towards her.

"Mmph. Yes, dear?" A woman's voice rang through the room.

"It's my birthday, mommy. Where's my presents?"

Another grunt.

The woman sighed, sitting up and flicking on the lights. Shielding her eyes, she pulled her daughter close to her. "You're getting your presents in..." She winced as she accidentally faced the light. "...About 5 hours." The little girl whined impatiently. "But _Caroline!_" That got her mom's attention. "_Chell. Sleep. Now._" Chell scowled at her mother as she turned the lights off.

_[Date: November 24th, 1996, 4:37 AM]_

"Caroline?"

"Call me mom," Caroline muttered sleepily, wrapping one arm around her daughter.

"Where's Daddy?"

There was dead silence In the room for a few minutes. Then Chell called again.

"...Mommy?"

"He went to a better place," the mother replied abruptly. Chell frowned. "But-"

_"Michelle! Sleep!"_

And the room was silent once more.

_[Date: November 24th, 2027 10:59 AM]_

It had all clicked. _Johnson... Cave Johnson._

_Daddy._

_Caroline..._

"Her name is Caroline. Remember that!"

_The turret!_

_GLaDOS... Caroline... Johnson._

_Mommy._

Chell sighed. She hadn't been adopted after all. And Caroline _had_ been married to science. She just chose not to tell. Shaking herself, Chell- _Michelle- _got up, struggling to regain her balance after such a shock. She kept walking weakly towards the outline of the city in the distance, hoping that it was actually a city. It was funny how Aperture seemed to be placed in the middle of the desert. "Of course, people that become the future have to starve to death. And die of thirst. And obviously, the future's skeleton has to be found in the desert." Chell laughed at her own joke.

_I didn't pause._

_I didn't choke._

_Wheeeeeeeeeeee. _Chell smiled as she imagined Wheatley's reaction. "That's brilliant, luv!" She muttered, imitating her friends' Bristolian accent the best she could. "You're getting loads better!" She snorted again, brushing back the long brown hair. "It was blond once," she murmured to herself. "I like it that way. It was pretty." Chell knew she was only talking to keep herself from feeling more alone than she already was. Even though it had only been a few hours since she'd seen the two of them, she missed Wheatley and GLaDOS tremendously. Wheatley himself had always been quick to help and apologize, whereas GLaDOS had been the ruler of sarcasm and bluntness, telling the moron that he sounded like a two-year-old and needed to shut up. "The two of them are going to kill each other. And that's if Wheatley doesn't eat the rest of her first." Chell frowned thoughtfully. "Or if he eats the blue gel." She shook her head. "Mommy was right. He is a moron."

_Mommy._

_That sounds weird. _

_[Date: November 24th, 2027 12:42 PM]_

At last, Chell stumbled upon a building. A _library, _in fact. She nearly squealed with joy, pulling the microchip out of her pocket and heading to the door. She gently pushed it open and headed for the front desk. An old, gray-haired lady sat there, tapping endlessly at her computer. It was only when Chell slammed her hand down hard onto the wooden surface that she look up at her, smiling. "Hello. How may I help you?"

"Where are the computers?"

The old woman turned the other way, pointing, towards them. "Right over there. Just take the stairs and make a left." Chell smiled back. "Thank you!" She raced down the stairs, turning to the left and skittering to a halt when she realized she'd just passed them. Grinning, she moved backwards a few steps. She sat down on one of the chairs, making a loud squeaking noise in the deserted building. Chell turned the computer around, searching for the port to plug in the chip.

_There._

She jammed it in.

_Opening Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center Security System. Please Stand By._

"Seriously?" Chell muttered after a few minutes of nothing but the loading bar. She was growing impatient, and was giving up on all hope of ever seeing them again when the computer made a beeping sound.

_Security System activated. Two test subjects found- 1 Human-based form, 1 AI/ Genetic Lifeform and Disc operating system. Track? y/n_

_Tracking..._

_Bzzzt. _

Suddenly, Wheatley's face appeared on the screen. He was frowning, scratching his blond head. "Chell? Luv, you there?"

"Of course she's there, you moron. Or else the camera would be off." The Potato's voice sounded muffled. "Get your hands off of me!" Wheatley rolled his eyes, looking far from guilty.

"I'm right here."

Just those three words set Wheatley off. "Brilliant! Yes! Where are you?"

"Umm..." Chell had just realized that she actually had no idea where she was. Obviously, she was somewhere in the U.S, but where...

"She doesn't know. It would have been a better idea for her to get down here, and have us up there," GLaDOS said. Her yellow optic was visible now, bright and narrowed.

"You wouldn't know what you were doing," Wheatley muttered.

"She's Caroline. She would know," Chell responded, remembering her memory. The moron frowned. "Caroline? What-"

"Shut up," Chell and GLaDOS said in unison.

_Good old Mommy. It's nice to have you back, _Chell thought, smiling faintly. "Are you two okay down there? How far are you?"

"We're in my old tests," Wheatley said, failing to hide the note of pride that sank into his voice. "Nearly there, luv. Now, all we have to do is-"

"Put a portal there! _Now!" _GLaDOS shrieked. There was the sound of a portal being placed, and the potato sighed with relief. "You _idiot! _You nearly fried us!"

Wheatley snorted. "Are you suggesting that you'd taste better fried than mashed? Because there's a mashy-spike-plate right there, you know."

"If that potato had arms, you'd be dead right now," Chell muttered. Wheatley laughed nervously.

"Gotta go, luv. There's a turret over there." The screen flashed once and they were gone. Chell smiled. _They're okay. Let's just hope Wheatley doesn't get hungry._


	11. Memories

**'Ello! Agh, I'm kinda lazy to be typing this right now... I was in the middle of watching Vampire Knight, but, fuck it, I'll try. :P**

**FangirlyNeko: You- I just- Oh god- ASDFGHJ. I LOVE YOU. I CAN'T. I JUST. CAN'T- bzzzt. I'm sorry. Apparently, emotional outbursts take more power than 1.6 volts. Heh. **

**shouvin: PURE AWESOMENESS! Btw, did I fix the whole "who's saying what?" issue at least somewhat? I figured out what you meant...**

**Spawn of Madness: Backgrounds FTW. RARG!**

**ardx: Yay, another British person! GLaDOS is in fact, mummy. I always liked the whole CarolinexCave thing in Portal 2. I just loved it.**

**ANYONE WHO REVIEWED THIS TIME AROUND GETS A WHEATLEY IN A PEAR TREE~!**

* * *

><p><strong>Wheatley<strong>**'****s ****POV**

"How many test chambers did you make?"

Wheatley smirked. "Let's see. Are you counting the ones you built, or just mine?"

"Everything," GLaDOS muttered. The blond moron sighed.

"343."

GLaDOS gasped. "_343? _Do you expect us to get through _343_test chambers?" Wheatley laughed. "D'you really think we'd make it that far? I only made Chell go through 11 of them. Honestly," he said irritably. "Call me a moron, but I'm not that stupid."

"Sure."

Wheatley rolled his eyes. _I __wish __I__'__d __eaten __that __potato __while __I __could... _If trying to defeat the AI hadn't been a pain in the ass enough, now he had to take care of her. If Chell was here, she'd know exactly what was going on, and they'd be done already. But no, she'd gone above to try and settle a place for them. He didn't blame her, of course. If she thought that was the best thing to do, it was the best thing to do. _Still, __though..._

"Hey, moron. Done day-dreaming?"

Wheatley shook himself. "Shut it. I was _not_dreaming." The potato just snorted. "This is why I don't like children," she muttered.

"You've never seen one."

"How do you know?"

"Because I've been here _my __whole __damn __life,_" he growled. "I haven't seen a single person in here that wasn't at least 20." GLaDOS laughed. "Yeah. And I've obviously been in here my whole life." The moron frowned. "You have been in here your whole life."

"Nope."

"Yeah."

"No."

"Yeah."

"_No._"

"...Yup."

GLaDOS' voice cracked. "No, I haven't! Go ask Chell!"

Wheatley snorted. "She's not here. Convenient, isn't it?"

"No," GLaDOS said scathingly. "That's not what I'm talking about." The potato sighed, narrowing her optic. "She knows everything now." Wheatley frowned at her. _What __the __hell? _"What-?"

"I-I tried to stop her from knowing. I did everything I could to delay it."

"Know _what?_" Wheatley was becoming more and more confused, scowling in annoyance.

"I don't remember," GLaDOS muttered sorrowfully. So sorrowfully, in fact, that even the moron's loathing cracked a little. _Of __all __of __us, __who__'__s __been __hurt __the __most? __Yes, __Chell. __But __even __this __potato __has __seen __more __of __life __than __I __have._

**GLaDOS****' ****POV**

_[File-__Caroline __Locked]_

_[Enter __password]_

_[Admin __GLaDOS-__Artificial __Intelligence __type-__password __{Lemons} __Accepted.]_

_[Caroline- __Open __file __{memories} __y/n]_

Wheatley had gone off to solve the rest of the chamber, having left GLaDOS in front of the exit door. "Hurry up," She said quietly. "Hurry. UP."

_[Loading...__Complete]_

_[Opening...]_

The potato growled in frustration. _Could __this __go __any __slower?_

_[Please __stand __by]_

_[Date:__November __24th, __1996, __8:42 __AM]_

"Mommy?"

The woman on the other side of the bed groaned. "What now?" she muttered.

"My presents, mom."

"I said five hours, Michelle."

"It's _been _five hours, Caroline!" the blond-haired girl whined. Caroline rolled her eyes, pulling her blankets off of her. "I've told you, Chell. Please don't call me Caroline."

"_Presents.__"_

Caroline sighed. She knew for a fact that she was fighting a losing battle. "Okay, presents. I think Daddy might have left you one." Chell gasped, throwing herself out of her bed and ran, screaming, down the stairs. Caroline could vaguely hear her daughter yelling her father's name as the pounded away. The mother's heart sank. Soon, she knew, the inevitable was going to happen- she would have to explain that Cave Johnson, the love of her life, was dead- and that too, to a newly turned five-year-old. She sighed, pulling herself out of the bed and went downstairs.

"Mom."

Chell was standing there, her eyes watery, threatening to overflow.

"Michelle-"

"_You __never __told __me.__"_

Caroline stood there, unable to reply to her daughter. Chell's eyes were full of fury, suddenly boiling over.

"I thought... I thought mothers told their children everything."

_The __memory __changed..._

_A __full-grown __Chell __was __now __standing __in __front __of __the __GLaDOS __chassis, __her __heart __and __eyes __full __of __nothing __but __hatred. __GLaDOS __herself __was __filled __with __sorrow __and __guilt , __watching __but __doing __nothing __to __stop __her. __The __neurotoxin __had __no __effect __on __the __young __woman; __she __simply __flew __through __portals __and __landed __on __the __ground, __the __deed __of __revenge __having __been __fulfilled._

_[Date:__November __24th, __2027 __1:14__PM]_

"No..."

"Hey, potato! C'mon! Last chamber!" Wheatley's voice was far-off, faint and barely heard by the potato in question.

"I can't move, idiot," GLaDOS snarled at him, sounding more annoyed than usual. Wheatley recoiled, gingerly reaching for the potato. Chell's voice kept drifting back into the AI's mind. _You __never...__told...__me..._

_Never._

_I __hate __you __so __much._

Wheatley picked up the potato and re-stabbed it onto the portal gun. "Look, I know you hate me, but we have to work together here. Who's going to lead this place when we go?" GLaDOS gave herself a little internal shake. "I am," she said coldly. "Anyone else would blow the place apart."

"But-"

"I will let you go."

"Pfft. Sure you will."

"I will."

"Nope."

"Yeah."

"Nope."

"Yes."

"No-"

Suddenly, a loud and familiar voice erupted from the nearby speakers. "Welcome, gentlemen, to Aperture Science. Astronauts, war heroes, Olympians-you're here because we want the best, and you are it. So: Who is ready to make some science?"

Wheatley snorted. "Who the hell-"

"Shh!" _Your __girlfriend__'__s __father __is __speaking! _The potato thought sarcastically. "THEY didn't fly into space, storm a beach, or bring back the gold. No sir... _bzzzt_ weeeeeee diddddd! It's youuuuu and me against the world, son! I like yourrrrrrrrrr grit! Hustle could use some work, though. Nowwwwwww _bzzzt_ let's solve this thing!" Cave Johnson's voice was torn apart by random buzzes and beeps, and his speech was oddly slurred, like _someone _had messed with the recordings...

GLaDOS' optic narrowed. "Did you do anything with those recordings?" She asked. Wheatley blushed slightly."Err, well, I might have gotten rid of a few, y'know. Here and there. Took up too much space," he muttered shamefacedly. "Heh. Well, It might be useful..."

_"__Warning:__Reactor __Core __Meltdown __imminent. __Please __prepare __for __Facility __shut down.__To __override __shut down, __please-__Bzzzzzzt.__"_

GLaDOS sighed. "You got rid of that too, didn't you?"

"Yeah. Useful."

**Wheatley****'****s****POV**

_What__'__s __she __going __off __about?_

Yes, GLaDOS was mean at best, but it's not everyday that she'd snap at him like that. Wheatley shook himself. "We gotta get to the next camera, mate. Let's hope Chell's there..." Right on cue, the nearest camera snapped up, suddenly awake, and the nearest monitor blinked to life, showing a slightly ruffled-looking Chell. Her blue eyes were fixed on the potato, narrowing slightly.

"Tell me _everything._" The former test subject's voice was cold. GLaDOS sighed. "Look, I know that you're not going to give this up without a fight. But please hold on until- Oh, look. _There_it is."

Wheatley spun around. "The- Oh, the core humanization unit? Ah. Umm, well. Seems like _someone_might have accidentally switched it to the android setting. And... _maybe _that person also broke the lever. On accident. Of course."

"You little _idiot! __You __crazy, __insane __b-__"_

"SHUT UP!" Chell's voice rang out clearly through the room. Wheatley cringed, and GLaDOS let out a little gasp. "_It __doesn__'__t __matter! __No __one __gives __a __single __crap __if __you__'__re __an __android __and __not __a __human!__" _

GLaDOS sighed. "Michelle. Listen to me, please, just this once. The daughter I knew would never-"

"I'm not your daughter."


	12. Luv

**'Ello, yet again!**

**Okay... So, fun fact: It's currently 3:44 AM where I am. And _Want You __Gone_ is currently on loop on my iPad. **

**Anyway, anyone who reviewed gets a no homework pass for... *Yawn* The, umm. Holidays. Anyways, moving On...**

**PhineasFlynns: (Oh look, Phineas and Ferb) ZOMG! IKR? I wasn't expecting that either...**

**shouvin: Haha. I was expecting an awesome. Damn, it's hard to not say that, isn't it? :D Anyways, yes, that part was unclear for a reason. I wanted to explain it from Chell's POV, and then, I was stuck with Caroline, so, yeah. Haha, luv! That's the word this chapter.**

**CorpusCristiCarmine: I feel like telling you to shut up, but, that would be mean, but it's 3:51 AM, SO SHUT THE BLOODY-**

**Ughh. Sorry.**

**Spawn Of Madness: AWW SNAP. LOOK WHO JUST GOT BITCHSLAPPED.**

**Xandora: Aww, thank you, luv! By the way, there's quite a few Chelley fics that are good. You just have to ask: I've read all of them! (And I mean _all_ of them!) Yeah, the "Who's talking?" Thing is hard for me to solve. Sorry...**

**ANYONE WHO READS THIS CHAPTER SHOULD HELP ME GET TO SLEEP. THANK YOU. ._.**

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><p><strong>Chell's POV<strong>

_[Date: November 24th, 1996, 8:45 AM]_

Chell flew down the stairs of her house, her long blond hair flowing behind her. _Daddy's here! _she thought happily. Giggling slightly, she jumped off of the last stair and ran towards the kitchen table.

"Daddy! I-"

Her father wasn't there. In fact, the only thing in the room that seemed out of the ordinary was a letter on the table, addressed to her. _To Michelle, from Cave Johnson- CEO of Aperture Science._Chell grabbed it and ripped it open, beginning to read it aloud.

"Dear Michelle-

Happy... birthday. You're a big girl now! I hope you come to-" _What?_ "Aper-tune Scenery one day. I want to leave you a present, but I'm afraid I'm going to be away for a long time. Actually, for... ever?" _Ummm..._"So, in... add-van-see, I want to give you something special. It's on the kitchen counter." Chell stood on her tippy-toes to took at the top of the counter. Searching a little bit, she found the present.

_A potato battery? _

Chell frowned, looking down at the letter. "Love, for the last time, Daddy."

_For the last time? Gone... Forever?_

_Oh no! Did he did arrested?_

Somehow, the little girl knew it wasn't that.

_Did he die? Pfft, of course not._

_Wait..._Chell thought a little bit. "If he was arrested, he wouldn't be gone forever... Just a few years. What happened to him? Besides, Mommy would tell me if Daddy died-"

_Would she?_

The niggling thought awoke at the back of her mind. _When was the last time she told you any of her secrets?_

"Ummm..."

_That's right, luv. Never._

Suddenly, Chell heard the sound of footsteps down the stairs. She turned to see her mother standing there.

_Tears._

"Michelle-"

"_You never told me." _Chell's voice shook, making it sound like a wail, but the fury and growing hatred in her voice couldn't be masked by anything. "I thought... I thought mothers told their children everything."

"Chell, I'm sorry." Caroline moved forward, placing a hand on her shoulder.

_"Don't touch me!" _Chell shrieked. "Get your hands off of me!" Chell whipped around, slapping Caroling square on the face. She took off, but this time, it was not the stairs, but the door. She pulled it open and stormed out into the rain, not even bothering to close the door behind her.

_You're leaving? Ah, well. Heh. You can come here, luv. Just follow your instincts..._

_[Date: November 24th, 2027, 1:58 PM]_

Chell had turned off the laptop computer she'd bought with the money she'd found in the wallet. Now, she simply lay on the hotel bed, fighting away the tears that came, once again, so readily to her eyes. "It was... his voice..." She'd just realized that. The day her world fell apart was also the day she found Wheatley. Everything was coming together now, piece by piece. Each little piece was a detail from one of the larger memories, and every large chunk of new memory barged into her mind so hard it hurt; not just physically, but mentally; every old bit of the life she thought she knew by heart was taken away and crumpled into a ball, long forgotten.

_Just follow your instincts..._

_My instincts led to him?_

Before she could answer that question, a rapid beeping came from her computer. Chell flipped it open. Sure enough the beeps were coming from the screen she'd minimized.

"Chell! Come in, Chell. Earth to- _Aghhh!_ Oh, god. You're here..." Wheatley's voice rang through her mind, setting off some sort of internal buzzer. She made A move to close the laptop. "No, no, no, wait! I need to tell you that _she turned into an android!"_

That caught Chell's attention.

"Great," she growled irritably. "Just fucking fantastic." She glared at Wheatley, who shrank under her gaze. "You're basically just calling to let me know that my father's dead, and now, my mother's _a goddamn android." _Wheatley shrank even further. Then he frowned.

"Wait, _she's_your mum?"

"Shut up, luv," Chell said sarcastically, ignoring Wheatley's protests and closing the laptop. Sighing, she pushed herself backwards into her bed sheets, and fell asleep almost immediately...

_[Date: November 24th, 1996, 9:14 AM]_

Tears streaming down her cheeks, Chell ran away from everything she'd ever known, following the voice in her head. _Keep going, luv. Just keep swimming through that rain... Oh, wow, it hasn't rained like this forever..._The voice seemed to ramble a bit, confusing the girl. She kept running anyways, feeling her leg starting to cramp.

It was only near nightfall that she remembered.

The rain had stopped after a few hours, but it was windy, and therefore, in Chell's mind, enough to give her frostbite crying out in pain with every step, and with the last bit of her strength, she finally fell near a shed.

_No trespassing. Keep out. Condemned._

A shape Chell recognized as Aperture's logo was imprinted at the bottom, faded slightly, but still barely noticeable. Intrigued, Chell opened the door and crawled in.

_Slam._

Chell squealed in fright. Now there was only darkness surrounding her.

"Ah, damn. Who is it now?" A voice drifted to her ears from far off.

"If it's that asshole again... What's her name? Carolyn?" Another voice. "Pfft. Well, whoever it is..."

_Boom._

Large lights flicked on, blinding her. Chell let out a little wail as they came closer to her, those hands she couldn't see.

"D-don't hurt me... Please..." She begged of them, backing away slightly. "We aren't going to hurt you," one of the voices said sweetly. It sounded like a boy that was about her age. Chell blinked open her eyes.

A little boy faced her, smiling weakly. "Are you okay?" He asked. His short blond hair was spiked up in all directions, and his eyes were an electric blue, glowing with understanding. "N-no. I'm not okay," Chell muttered. "I ran away."

"Awww, why?"

Chell blinked. The boy had a very distinguished British accent, sounding exactly like the voice in her head. "It was you!" She blurted out, gaping at him. The boy looked slightly confused.

"Oh! I knew I was talking to _someone..._I just didn't know who... See, there's lots of new machines being built here, and I kinda snuck into one, to try it, y'know? Well, sorry if I frightened you, luv," the boy muttered.

"What's your name?"

"I.. My name? I was adopted, see. They just call me 'boy' around here, but you should call me Wheatie. That's my nickname. My real name is Wheatley, but I don't have a last name, so-"

"My Name's Michelle," Chell said, interrupting him. _Wow, he can talk forever if he tried! _"But you should call me Chell. My parents called me that." Wheatley tilted his head to one side. "Called you that?" He asked, frowning.

"I-"

"You don't want to go back."

Chell glared at him, but soon, her gaze softened. She ran to him and threw herself in his arms. Wheatley gasped as the air was knocked out of his lungs, stumbling backwards.

"_Someone understands..._"

Wheatley smiled, unsure of how to respond. "Of course I do, luv."

_Luv..._

_[Date: November 24th, 2027, 7:01 PM]_

Chell flew straight awake in her bed, sitting up. Over her 6 hour nap, she'd discovered even more memories than she'd ever hoped for. Pushing back a few stray strands of hair, she shook herself, wrapping herself up in the covers and grabbing her laptop. Flipping it open once more-

"Luv! Oh, thank _GOD- _I thought you were dead! Anyways, I'm on my way back. Your Mum... well, she's in charge now, but she let me go. It's a long story, really, lots of... Umm, politics involved. Well, still, I'm on my way, where are-?"

"I'm in the hotel closest to where you are. Room 343." _Wow, he hasn't changed at all..._

"Chell? Is there something wrong?"

"No."

"There is."

"Just come back in one piece, okay?"

Wheatley laughed, grinning.

"No problem, luv."


	13. Companions

**'Ello! :D**

**Okay, so before I thank the four people who reviewed, I wanted to say something:**

**A lot of people have been commenting about how they can't tell who's talking. I'm not trying to hate on you guys here, but when I do make it so I don't put the person's name afterwards, I make it kinda- maybe just a little obvious. Everyone here has a distinctive talking style: Wheatley says "luv" a lot, he's bumbling, and laughs a bit. GLaDOS is more the passive-aggressive type; she's quite the sadist, as well as having her own sarcasm behind every word. Chell is at a huge point in her life right now, and she talks to Wheatley a lot, and Caroline is her mom, so she's the only one who says mom at all to adress- well, her mom. **

**Also, Wheatley is British.**

**Anyways. To the reviewers, you get a copy of space core to annoy you. **

**Mizuki J: Why thank you, luv! *Hair flip* Yeah, it's quite the pretzel type of story, and I like it that way. :3**

**shouvin: NO MORE ENERGY DRINKS FOR YOU. HA. Anyways, yes, you luved it... XD**

**Spawn of Madness: OH MY GOSHES DON'T CRAI! *Hugs***

**FangirlyNeko: I see you're running out of ways to express my awesomeness... Haha, just kidding. XD Yeah, I do like the idea of Chell just losing and finding... Her life is doing the dolphin.**

**Hmm. One thing I should clear up: The space core is for anyone who reviews this time. Anyone who reviewed for Chapter 12 gets whatever prize was mentioned then... Whatever it was. Heh. (Fun fact: It's NOT 3:44 AM anymore, it's 5:49 PM, so I'm having a good time.) Anyways, enjoys~! **

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><p><strong>Wheatley's POV<strong>

Wheatley gaped at the now blank screen. For once, he was absolutely speechless.

"Quite the cover-up you've put on, moron."

The moron spun around "G-GLaDOS? But I thought you were-" GLaDOS had changed completely. Not quite human, but not an AI, she stood in front of him, her silver hair flying in the wind. Her orange eyes were narrowed, and the dress she was wearing was fluttering slightly. "You have some explaining to do," she growled, placing her hands on her hips.

"Explaining? I-"

"You _know her._"

Wheatley gave a nervous little laugh at that. "Heh. Well, I have no idea what you're talking about, so I think I'll just-"

"Stop it! You know exactly what I'm talking about. You've been human before. You knew why she left. You knew _who_ she left. You're her past! _Tell me what happened!" _GLaDOS was yelling at him now, her eyes wide with fury. "Why didn't you tell her?"

Tears were forming in Wheatley's eyes. "She'd hate me!" He blurted out. "I didn't- I never- I- Okay, fine," he muttered, pushing his hair out his eyes. "I'll tell you. Just- Don't tell Chell. She'd kill me."

GLaDOS smirked. "Tell me."

**Chell's POV**

_[Date: November 24th, 1996, 10:33 AM]_

"Chell?" Wheatley poked her in the side

"What?" Chell had been looking at the clouds in a nearby window, sitting on a cube the scientists she'd met earlier had called a companion cube. She'd grown rather attached to it in the hour that followed.

The scientists, however... _Well, that's a different story._

The scientists had squinted at her, examined her, drew her blood, and examined her some more. Chell had lashed out at them, screaming with annoyance, even managing to stick one of the scientists in the eye with his own needle. Eventually, they'd left her alone, seeming too scared to come near her.

She'd just laughed at them.

"The scientists wanted to give you something," Wheatley said, breaking into Chell's thoughts. She scowled.

"It's not another needle, is it?"

Wheatley laughed nervously. "No, they wanted me to give you this." He held out his hand, which held some sort of weird gun. Chell frowned, taking it. "It's a portal gun," Wheatley muttered. "Try it."

She pointed the portal gun at the wall and pulled the trigger. An orange oval appeared in the wall. Wheatley laughed at Chell's annoyance as she poked it, trying to go through it. "Silly! It wouldn't be a portal if you don't shoot another one!"

"You could have told me that..." Chell shot another portal into the wall, this time a blue one. She tentatively put her hand through it, and nearly squealed in shock as she fell through, tripping on the edge of the wall and flying through the blue portal she'd placed high up on the other wall.

Quick as a flash, Wheatley zoomed underneath the blue portal, scooping Chell up in his arms. She gasped, her eyes widening as she fell against him.

"Oh my gosh," Chell squeaked. "I thought I was going to die!" Wheatley grinned at her. "Don't worry, luv, I'd always be here catch you." Chell smiled up at him.

_Do I trust him? It's time to make up my mind..._

Wheatley's grin was beginning to make him look a little dazed, as if he was staring down at a treasure he'd just dug up. _What kind of question is that?_ Chell thought. _I'd trust him with my life._

And then, having made up her mind, Chell made a decision that sealed her fate and may have just as well changed the course of her life.

_She kissed him._

**GLaDOS' POV**

The android scowled at her moronic companion. "That's the good part," she snapped. "What did you do to betray her?"

Wheatley cringed under GLaDOS' fierce gaze. "I- well, I'm the one who put you in charge, see." GLaDOS' jaw dropped.

"_You? _But-"

Wheatley sighed. "I didn't know it was you! How was I supposed to know that _you_ were _her_mum?" He yelled, drowning her out.

_Moron._

"You could have _asked," _GLaDOS muttered. "But that's not obvious at all." Wheatley rolled his eyes. "I can't just stroll up to someone in the relaxation center, tap on the glass, and ask 'Hey, mate, is that your mum?' And besides, she wouldn't have answered, she wouldn't have known me, and I would have ended up in about a thousand pieces against a wall-"

"Wait... You're telling me she was already in a relaxation center when I was put in charge?" That was exactly where the android's huge memory gap lay.

"You're not going to tell her, are you?"

GLaDOS rolled her eyes. "She's my daughter, idiot. I can tell her if I want to." Wheatley chuckled nervously. "That's reassuring," he muttered. "Fine, I'll tell you."

**Chell's POV**

_[Date: July 26th, 2003, 2:57 AM]_

"Attention: All Aperture Science employees to evacuate immediately. Neurotoxin capacity overload imminent. Please exit the facility."

Chell pulled herself out of her bed, growling with annoyance. "Wheatley, what did you do?" she muttered, rubbing her head. She could hear a faint screeching noise from far off, and worst of all, it sounded very familiar...

Chell picked her portal gun off of the side table, running out of the room towards the sound of the screeching. Fire was bursting out of everything she looked at, shooting towards her. The screams were becoming more and more distinct, now mixed with the sound of a regular human voice, which was just as familiar as the yells.

"C'mon now, Caroline. Stop firing off the neurotoxin. Just stay still..."

_Wheatley?_

Chell's heart raced just as fast as she was running. "Wait a minute..." She slowed down, pulling to a halt. "Caroline... Caroline... _Oh my god. Mommy!"_

Just as soon as she'd stopped, Chell kept running, tears soaking her face, her mind growing hazy from the neurotoxin. At last, she found the room, standing directly in front of a glass wall.

Caroline stood there, slowly backing away from a rather deranged looking Wheatley, who was holding syringe full of what Chell recognized to be a tranquilizer. Gasping with shock, she ran into the glass, smashing it. "What the _hell_are you doing, Wheatley?" She yelled at him, causing Wheatley to turn and glare at her.

"_SHUT UP!" _Without warning, Wheatley threw a syringe at her, sticking her right in the throat. Chell gasped as the chemicals flew into her bloodstream, letting a choked wail of pain.

_I can't talk._

_I can't breathe..._

"C-Caroline..." Chell just barely managed to say her mothers' name before collapsing onto the cold stone floor.

_[Date: July 26th, 2003, 5:15 AM]_

"...Pick her up, I don't want her to die."

Caroline's voice sounded from far off, now computerized and much more gentle. Chell blinked open her eyes to see her mother standing in front of her, wires running into her body from all over. "Chell... Thank god, you're alright," she whispered, running a hand over her daughter's face. Chell flinched, not used to this type of contact. "It's okay, dear. Mommy's right here... How old are you now?"

Chell opened her mouth, intending to speak, but all that came out was a strange, squeaking, rasping noise. She gasped quietly, covering her mouth and staring up at her mom, her face wet with fresh tears. Caroline smiled weakly at her.

"Don't worry. Talk."

Chell hesitated, then began to speak. "I'm- I'm 12," she choked out, letting out rasping wail of distress at the end of her sentence. Caroline sighed. "You fall _just_below the age requirements," she murmured. "The law is that anyone below the age of thirteen would have to have their memories wiped after a traumatic experience."

"But-!"

"I'm sorry, Chell. Goodbye."

_And it all just fades to black..._


	14. Transfer

**'Ello!**

**Yay, I'm back! To all the people who read Laugh (the drabble), did you like it? I'm kinda thinking of making a sequel to it. Just a sweet little thing, y'know. Speaking of which:**

**LC IS NEARLY DONE! No I haven't finished thousands of chapters and not published them, I'm just going to finish it soon. Also maybe making a prequel, as well, so watch for that soon.**

**On a _totally_ unrelated note, I kinda made something up: **

**Fact: Bring Your Daughter to Work day was the day GLaDOS went rampant, releasing neurotoxin and killing everyone- Except Chell, of course. That was the day the intelligence dampening sphere, Wheatley, was attached to her in a vain attempt to stop her from flooding the enrichment center with neurotoxin.**

**I'll stop now. ONTO THE REVIEWERS!**

**Spawn of Madness: ...I. Umm... don't know... how to... respond to that... _[ERROR. Short-circuit detected.]_**

**Procella: I DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU! *Shoots* HAHA WHOOPS THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT. Anyways, if you're still alive, I found the error! But I'm too lazy to fix it.**

**shouvin: Heh. Fine. Take your energy drinks. BUT YOU CAN'T STOP ME. AWESOMENESS. AWESOMENESS. AWESOMENESS. **AWESOMENESS. AWESOMENESS. AWESOMENESS. **AWESOMENESS. AWESOMENESS. AWESOMENESS. **AWESOMENESS. AWESOMENESS. AWESOMENESS. HAHA. Lol. Anyways, you'll see.********

********FangirlyNeko: Yeah, I've been getting that quite a bit. But some people are just like that and complain that they can't tell who's- I mean, nicely point out that they can't tell who's talking. *Awesome pose* *hair flip* Hah! I WAS RIGHT. You can go look in a thesaurus, does that help? :)********

********darkbangle: A few days? More like a week! Still though, glad to have you back. I think the plot's kinda wrapping in on itself, so that makes it really deep, and I like it that way. YAY SPAAAAAAAACE. XD********

********Anyone who reviews gets a bowl of Wheatley's, the breakfast of morons! I mean, champions!********

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><p><strong>Wheatley's POV<strong>

"It was _you? _But why-"

Wheatley sighed, running a hand through his hair and grinning sheepishly up at the android. "Well, we had to round up all the relatives of the test subjects, see. To tell them their kin had been tested on..." He trailed off, scratching his head. "Honestly, I don't even remember half of what happened, but what I remember was horrifying," he muttered.

"Horrifying?" GLaDOS asked, confused. Wheatley frowned. "You don't remember?"

"No."

"Your human side died that day. As soon as the scientists had uploaded Caroline's data into the chassis, you just... Kinda slumped over, crying and then-" Wheatley's voice cracked. "Ch-Chell... she fell over backwards... She _saw you die._She had no idea who you were, obviously. But it was probably terrible for her to watch. That being her first memory, too."

GLaDOS gaped at him. "You were corrupt even then? You _moron!" _She yelled at him. Seemingly at the speed of light, her hand whipped forward, striking Wheatley square in the face. The moron recoiled with a yelp of pain, falling onto the wet, grassy ground. "Hey, I couldn't help it, okay?" He snapped at her. "I punished myself for it too!"

"Sure."

Wheatley snorted. "I'll prove it to you."

_[Date: July 26th, 2003, 5:15 AM]_

Unknown to Chell and Caroline, Wheatley had been hiding in the ventilation system above them, peering through one of the metal grates, watching as Chell's eyes turned blank and she got up, shrugging and turning away. Wheatley sighed, pushing himself through the pipe until he saw the vent leading into the main room. Punching the vent out, he pushed himself into the room.

_Slam._

Wheatley punched the wall as hard as he could, hitting the jagged rock with his fist. He growled, feeling the pain shoot through his arm as he saw blood darkening the wall. His hand was nothing but a mangled, bloody mess now.

"Bloody _hell!_" He snapped. "Why do I- Why did I-"

That was when Wheatley saw the human-to-core transfer device.

"Perfect," he murmured. "I'll find a way to fix this one day." He stepped towards the machine and flicking the switch. The computer on the inside of it turned on, and Wheatley stepped through the door and shut it behind him.

_[Human-based core transfer- Human detected.]_

_[Switch to core y/n]_

_[Matching DNA...]_

Wires shot into him, stinging slightly as they broke his skin. He didn't care. He just stood there, his mind nearly blank, nothing but Chell's face running through his head.

_[DNA matched. Transferring...]_

It was a very odd feeling that came over Wheatley, almost as if he was getting sucked out of his own body. There was pain, yes, plenty of pain, but it was... _distant._He let out a yell of shock as he saw an empty core on the other side of the computer panel, obviously waiting for the transfer to complete.

_Bzzt._

For a second, everything went black, and Wheatley was stuck in the middle, but then-

"Transfer complete. Intelligence Dampening Sphere created."

And that was when Wheatley opened his optic for the first time, all of his previous memories wiped away as he was sucked into a tube leading far away from home.

**Chell's POV**

Chell shot awake, cold sweat running down her face. She gasped for breath, turning to face her clock.

_3:02 AM_

"Dammit," she growled. "I can't get a good night's sleep? Just once?"

_Tap tap tap._

"Apparently not."

Chell threw the covers off of herself, yawning and walking to the door. It flew open before she even touched it, whacking her in the face and making her stumble backwards and fall back onto her bed.

"Chell? Oh, thank _god-"_

"Oi, move aside, lady! You're blocking off all my space!" Wheatley's voice came from behind GLaDOS, sounding disgruntled. "Honestly, it's three in the morning, shove off! I want to get to bed!"

Chell sighed, getting back up and heading for the door, knowing exactly where it was, thanks to both Wheatley's muffled protests and GLaDOS' bright, glowing eyes. "Move, mom. I think you might be choking him," she said, looking up at the android, who sighed and reluctantly moved aside, letting the moron himself fall right into Chell's arms, knocking her yet again, back into her bed.

"Look at that, luv, you caught me!" Wheatley said, sounding both happy and uncomfortable all at once. Chell narrowed her eyes. "You said you'd always be there to catch me. I guess it's my turn to catch you." Wheatley sighed. "You know, then, don't you? Well, anyways," he said, rapidly changing the subject. "I should really get some sleep. He turned to GLaDOS. "You should go," he said quietly. GLaDOS nodded.

"Good bye, Chell. I- I don't want to leave, but Aperture needs me. I'm sorry, Michelle." Without even waiting, she closed the door and left.  
>When Chell turned around, she noticed that Wheatley had already curled up under the sheets, fast asleep. Sighing, she lay down to sleep as well.<p>

It took a while, of course, but sleep eventually came to her. And right before she drifted off, she could feel Wheatley wrapping an arm around her possessively, and hear him whispering in her ear. _I'm sorry, Chell. I still love you..._

**GLaDOS' POV**

Through the field of grass that she'd come from, she walked away, trying not to think of the people she'd left behind. _It's pretty hard to leave memories in the past,_ the android thought wearily, staring up at the darkened sky. _But I'm going to have to._

The grass was wet underfoot, slick with rain. After an hour or so, it actually started snowing softly, with enough to coat the ground with white. Every flake that touched her fizzled immediately, evaporating. GLaDOS sighed. "Did I have to leave them?" She thought aloud, her mind still filled with images of Chell and Wheatley as children, smiling, hugging, kissing...

_Loving..._

If there was one thing she couldn't understand about humans, it was love. She'd mastered all of their other emotions, having experienced them herself. At one point, she may have seen or felt love, but never actually returned the feeling, not knowing how to do so. Shrugging off the thought, GLaDOS kept trudging through the snow, having finished what she'd come to do.

_Did I?_

Somehow, she couldn't answer that question.


	15. Taken

**'Ello, And Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays/Winter Break in general!**

**IT'S NOT SNOWING HERE. IT'S WINDY. (Stupid weather...)**

**Anyways, I've actually had this chapter done for a little bit, but I left it sitting there 'cause I wanted to give everyone a little Christmas present. This is actually the longest chapter yet.**

**Oh, and one more thing! Yeah, the Half-life/Overcombine wiki (And also the Portal wiki) say that Cave Johnson died in the late 1980's... Which makes it physically impossible for Chell to be born in 1991 like I said she was. So, I'm going to go back and change a few dates, so if a few chapters disappear over the next couple days, don't shoot me.**

**Onto the reviewers!**

**JacobiFlyingFox- I was actually playing that part yesterday... Even though I've finished Portal 2 maybe 5 times, I still cry a bit when Wheatley apologizes from space. Aww, thank you! I really like the story line, too, but that's just bragging so I'll shut up. :)**

**Neru Akita- OHMIGOSH A VOCALOID REVIEWED MY STORY! Haha, that's beside the point... I'M WRITING MORE! Thank you for getting away from that cellphone long enough to look at a computer... Unless the phone has internet, idk.**

**Procella- AHH ANOTHER WARRIORS FAN! The 'Silver' in my name is for Silverstream, btw... Just thought I'd let you know. "Anyone of our kinds". That makes me feel special! But then again, I am. *Hair flip* MASHY SPIKE PLATE! SPINNY BLADE WALL! Machiavellian. Hey, I don't want to kill you *Shoots* OH WHOOPS MY GUN MISFIRED.**

**MarryBarry1234- I feel like I just got a review from a professional author... *Sinks into the wall, blushing* Ah, yes, I noticed the problem too... I'm going to fix that soon, but otherwise, thank you!**

**darkbangle- GAH YOU'RE LEAVING AGAIN. I hope you enjoy your bowl of Wheatley's, though. Up on the slopes. Heh. I really need to try and add more fluff to this story... Right now it's all 'The whole place is blowing up there's no time for love here, mate!' Type thing. I'll try!**

**Spawn Of Madness- Can I just call you my sister, or something? Please don't crai! *Pat on back***

**shouvin: TIME TO PUT PICTURE LINKS ON MY PROFILE, WHEE. I'll put a picture of Android!GLaDOS Up there when I get the chance to go back to deviantArt. Oh, yes, Chronos... Being the little creeper person I am, I read your profile, and IT WAS AWESOMENESS HAHA TRY AND STOP ME.**

**Anyone who reviews this time around gets... Umm. Well, I was playing around with MMD this weekend, so you get to watch her dancing to Want You Gone, k? No, just kidding, just pick something...**

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><p><strong>Chell's POV<strong>

_[Date: July 26th, 2003, 6:15 AM]_

Chell pulled herself off of the ground, confused. _Where am I?_In front of her, there was a chair, holding the dead body of a woman who looked vaguely familiar. Her sides were completely run through with numerous wires, leading back and forth from what seemed like some sort of robot.

"Main core transfer complete. GLaDOS AI fully functioning."

_What the hell-? _

The robot powered up, it's light orange optic flickering to life. Chell gasped, stepping backwards slowly. The AI turned towards her, narrowing its optic. "It's you," GLaDOS murmured. Chell opened her mouth, trying to speak, but all that came out was a choked screech, ending in a spluttering cough. GLaDOS sighed. "That moron's going to get what he deserves, don't worry. You, on the other hand..."

Chell frowned. _Does this... thing know me? _Her thoughts broke off abruptly, as she felt herself falling into a pipe.

"You're going to test. Maybe for a few more years. It's for science." Chell frowned. _Science? What the hell is going on here?_

Far above her, GLaDOS sighed. "Here," she said, causing the pipe to drop her into a bed. "Sleep." The bed closed her in it, sliding plastic doors over her head. It took a few minutes, but eventually, everything went fuzzy, sending Chell off to sleep.

_[November 28th, 2027, 5:52 AM]_

"Chell? Chell, wake up."

Wheatley's voice was coming from far away, sounding like a whisper. Chell blinked her eyes open, peering sleepily at her clock.

_5:53 AM_

"Seriously?" She muttered, turning to glare at Wheatley, who was standing next to the window, his eyes glued to the TV. "Sorry, luv, but _look!"_Chell scowled even deeper, looking at the TV through her slightly fuzzy vision.

_"Breaking news: It seems as if robots are running rampant through the state of Washington today! In fact, an android- yes, folks, you heard me, an _android_- was spotted today, obviously trying to frantically stem the flow of these AI's, who were running from a shed. She did manage to stop a few before she got trampled violently, and is now trying to repair herself. This is a new report, exclusive to KING 5 news, from the android, who calls herself Caroline."_

Chell's jaw dropped as she yanked the covers off herself, now fully awake. A very familiar face flashed onto the TV, her eyes wide, beginning to talk-

_"Yes, I know exactly why these things are on edge. Yes, I'm an android. Stop asking me questions, dammit! Anyways-" _ Caroline faced the camera, now talking directly to them. _"-Chell, you know what to do."_

_"Who is Chell, exactly?"_

Caroline narrowed her eyes, annoyed. _"I told you to stop asking me questions!"_

Wheatley turned the TV off , facing Chell. "Well," he said, grinning slightly. "You _do_know what to do." Chell grabbed his hand, picking up the portal gun off the bed and grabbing her wallet from the drawer. "You're coming with me."

"But-"

"_You are coming. With. Me," _Chell said commandingly, pulling Wheatley to the door and unlocking it. "Fine, luv, I'll come with you." Chell turned to him, sighing. "It better not be just because I'm dragging you along."

"No way! Our lives are on the line, luv!"

"You'd hurry up if our lives were at stake."

"Shut it."

Chell rolled her eyes and pulled Wheatley onwards.

**GLaDOS' POV**

The android scowled heatedly at the reporters as they got into their truck and rode away, trying to avoid the angry robots that chased them down the road, flowing into the highway. She snorted, rolling her eyes. "If those two don't hurry up, I don't know what's going to happen to this place," GLaDOS muttered, scanning the horizon in search for Chell and Wheatley.

_[Command- Search for [TEST SUBJECTS] 1428, 3435]_

_[Scanning area...]_

_[Test subject- 1428- vitals low.]_

_[Test subject- 3435- Abnormal heart rate.]_

GLaDOS sighed. "Here we go again." She got up off of the rock she'd been sitting on, spotting a Wheatley-shaped person, flailing his arms and screaming in his trademark British accent.

"Chell! Oh, god, oh god-" He was running towards one of the robots, attempting to smack it with one of his thrashing arms. GLaDOS started running towards them. "You _idiot! The portal gun! The gun!"_

"What? Oh, you mean that... Erm- I- It kinda got... Smashed." Wheatley gestured towards the now unusable portal gun, which lay on the ground in several different pieces. The android glared at him. "Where's my daughter?" She snapped at him, looking around.

"About that! She's been taken."

"_Taken?"_

Wheatley grinned sheepishly at GLaDOS. "I'm sure she'll be fine. She's in Aperture, after all- Hey, where-?" GLaDOS ran in the direction of the shed, praying that Chell was still alive.

**Chell's POV**

She could barely remember what happened.

One second, Chell had been fighting Off wave after wave of the robots, soon figuring out they'd been hacked to kill on sight.

Next second, the portal gun had been smashed, and she was being carried away.

She'd tried everything to try and stop it, punching and kicking, yelling and screaming, but that had only resulted with a hoarse throat and a few broken fingers. Eventually, Chell gave up, letting what smelled like neurotoxin take over her senses and send her to sleep.

_[Date: August 19th, 2003, 10:19 PM]_

"You're not a doctor. You're not a scientist. You're not even a full-time employee."

GLaDOS faced Chell again, this time with dislike and full-on loathing in her voice. "Where did your life go so wrong?"

_Memories..._

Chell shook the empty thoughts away, locking them into the back of her mind. All that she needed to do was get those cores off of that AI, and everything would be _just fine..._

Or would it?

Scowling, Chell looked around for something that would get those cores off while avoiding the rocket turret.

_Wait a minute!_

Thinking quickly, she shot a few portals and stood right in front of one. _Come get me! _She thought, standing perfectly still. The rocket locked on, firing, but at the last second, Chell spun aside, letting the rocket go through the portal and hit GLaDOS.

_Screeeeeech-_

Chell smiled slightly, having figured out the puzzle at last. It took a few more times, yes, but she'd done it- she'd gotten rid of GLaDOS once and for all.

But that was _not_ the best part. As Chell fell to the ground, unconscious, she swore she'd seen something- _someone_- walking towards her.

"Get up, Chell." The voice of the unknown person rang in her ears. They came closer- closer-

Soon, however, the vision just faded away, leaving her with nothing but darkness.

_[November 28th, 2027, 9:23 AM]_

Chell's eyes flicked open to see plastic covering her, encasing her. It opened at her touch, letting her get up. "Mommy, who'd you put in charge?" She muttered sleepily, getting to her feet.

"Hello, and _bzzzt_ again, welcome to the _[ERROR- Audio file 139 not found.] _Aperture Science computer-aided enrichment center." The announcer's voice sounded different, somehow, and not just because it was being messed up by constant beeps and buzzes. It had a different accent-

"But that's all just shit, so, let's get to it. Name's Rick, and you are one hell of a pretty lady."

Chell sighed, slapping her palm to her face. "Great. Or like Wheatley would say, _'That's just bloody brilliant, luv!' "_Rick's slight laughter came from above her, interrupting her train of thought. "Wheatley? You mean that big old robot crazy dude? I took care of him, girlie. Now stand back, 'cause there's a portal thing that's gonna open up just there," he said flirtatiously. Chell could imagine him wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

_Not that he has eyebrows. Or a face._

The portal opened at last, letting Chell run through it. "Not so fast, little miss! You're gonna have to go through quite a few test chambers to get here, so no matter how much ya wanna see me, you're gonna have to- fine, I'll shorten it a bit! Now ya only have to do ten chambers, and then I can do- Yeah, well, just ten chambers, lovely. Ten." Chell raised an eyebrow.

"The enrichment center wishes to remind you that although you may have fun exploiting the humans, please decline from going too far," she said, perfectly imitating her mother's computerized voice. "After all, we want them to always be in full testing capacity." Rick's laughter continued, now more nervous. "You related to that crazy woman somehow? Y'know- Caroline, or whatever her name was?"

Chell thought for a moment, putting a cube on the button required to pass the chamber she'd just walked into. "She's my mother, you moron. And she _is not _crazy. Just a little... sadistic," she replied with a smirk, flipping her hair back. She had actually untied it long ago, letting it curl down the side of her neck, as she liked the way it flew with her like it did when she was little. "Sadistic equals crazy, missy. What is your name, anyways?"

"Chell," She replied, getting into the elevator that took her down into the next test chamber.

"Well, Chell, only _nine_ chambers left. Then you can try and help me stop these robot assholes! They just keep goin', and I think there's some civilization nearby, so that is _not_good." Chell frowned. "You didn't... Start them up?" There is was again, the hacking cough that paused her voice so annoyingly.

"Nah, I think it might have been that space idiot. He wanted to go to space, and apparently, locking a paranoid android into a room with 45 programmable robots and a reproduction line is _not_a good idea, and neither is giving them chucks of moon rocks to throw at him."

Chell sighed. "Well, at least that's one mystery solved."

**Wheatley's POV**

"God, just tell her where Chell is, and off she goes!" Wheatley muttered to himself as he ran after Caroline- GLaDOS- _whatever you call her, _he thought irritably. "Hey, wait up!"

The android was actually putting up quite the pace, running through the snowy plain at seemingly the speed of light. A few seconds later, she pulled open the door of the shed and ran in, causing Wheatley to yell at her and run forward, barely managing to pulled the door open before it locked shut behind her. The lights were already on inside.

"Hey, Chell, looky here! We got ourselves some company. And... Aww, hell, it has to be those two! Well, your mom's here, and I'm guessin' that's your boyfriend, since ya talk about him so damn much."

"_Rick?"_

The adventure sphere's laughter spread through the room. The lights at the other end of the room flicked on, revealing him at last- And he was an android.

Rick's hair and eyes were the same shade of bright green, his hair slicked into spikes and his mouth curved into a sinister grin. He was seated comfortably onto the GLaDOS chassis, which he'd modified by putting a chair into. Chell was wrapped up by some of the many wires surrounding him, her portal gun a few yards away. Unable to escape, she'd fallen limp at his side, unconscious.

"She's mine, ya morons!"

**Chell's POV**

Chell had known Rick for quite some time, actually.

The first time she'd seen him was the day before Wheatley had gone corrupt, and needless to say, Wheatley had outright _hated _him. Chell had never bothered asking him why, as she'd guessed it long ago: _It's just guy stuff._

_[January 13th, 2026, 9:23 AM]_

"I don't care what you think, this whole place is going to be blown to bits if we don't go get rid of her! Not to mention us dying!"

"Aww, shut it, ya maniacal killjoy! All I wanna do is warm up to the ladies a bit."

Wheatley's optic narrowed as he glared at Rick, clearly not amused. "Fine," he snapped, rolling his eye and looking up at Chell.

"Well, better get going, then!"

"Take me with ya! I swear I won't-"

_"No."_

And with that, the two of them walked onwards, leaving Rick in the core reject bin.

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><p><strong>'It's just guy stuff.' Huh. Well. I don't think I'll ever understand guys (except a few). I wonder if Chell knew Space, or FactCraig... Heh, well, what was I going to say?**

**Oh, right. There are some really obvious timegaps in Chell's memories. Like, say, how Wheatley got so corrupt the first time, or his past, or about how Cave Johnson died. Don't worry, I'll fill those gaps up. With repulsion gel.**


	16. Ashes

**'Ello, and happy (Early) New year!**

**This is probably the last chapter before the end of winter break, but we'll see. It took me forever to get this chapter just right- Yeah, 6 days is a long time for me.**

**On to my lovely reviewers! **

**Procella: Wheatley is just- Moron. I love him that way, so lets' just just keep him that way. :3 And yes, repulsion gel makes it worse, but it's BOUNCY. Your argument is invalid. :P Silverstream... *sniffle* Anyways. Your cat doesn't like Rick, apparently. Also, 'Ello, this is the part where I kill you! (Chapter 9: The Part Where he kills you, Achievement: The part Where he kills you, Description: This is that part) *Shoots***

**FangirlyNeko: No question is a stupid question. *Looks at question* Hey, every rule has an exception. JUST KIDDING. I guess I wasn't being specific. This is where Wheatley went corrupt the _second_ time, as in within Portal 2 itself. When Chell puts Wheatley in charge and he mashes you down into old Aperture with PotatOS. THAT PART. It's fine, though, I guess that was my fault. :)**

**FrizzyLizzy214: To answer the question you have, hidden under... Quite A bit of writing, Rick and Space were made androids as well as fact because GLaDOS left, and Aperture needs a central AI to run. Anyways, THANK YOU SO MUCH! :DD**

**Spawn of Madness: *Pats Rick on head***

**Shouvin: *Ideas* The point of telling me not to do something is to not say anything about it at all. No, you weren't playing a 12-year-old... She was caged until she was 20-something. :P Awesomeness, luv. Thank you.**

**Anyone who reviews gets some space! SPACE! YEEEEEEEEEEHAWWWWWWW!**

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><p><strong>Caroline's POV<strong>

_[Date: November 29th, 1996, 9:56 AM]_

It had been a few days since Chell had left.

Search parties had been sent out, there were advertisements everywhere... The entire state had been searched, and there was still no sign of her anywhere.

_Heck, they could search the whole country, and she still wouldn't show up._

The place where Chell had slapped her was now stinging worse than ever, as well as the place in Caroline's heart that had shattered when she'd left. Tears started in Caroline's eyes as she thought of her daughter and how nice she'd been as a child, smiling toothlessly up at her, never asking about her father, never running away, never leaving her mother's side for more than a few seconds. _I guess I had to learn the hard way,_Caroline thought weakly, pushing aside the newspaper the was brushing against her foot.

_Thud._

The woman frowned, looking down. A framed picture sat there. Chell must have been a newborn, as she was wrapped in blankets, peering up at the camera with her sky-blue eyes. Caroline was holding her, smiling for the picture. _And who took the picture?_

_Cave._

Ever since she was born, Caroline had always heard of two times: The time to act, and the time to shut up. The time to act had always been the time of desperation, and the time to shut up had always been the time when her dad had gotten angry at her talkativity and threatened to spank her. Come to think of it, there had never been a time to act in Chell's life.

_Maybe the other time just drowned her out._

Caroline got up, threw her coat on, flung the door open, and headed into the rain. It was definitely time to act.

**Cave's POV**

_[Date: November 27th, 1991, 9:56 AM]_

"Caroline?"

Cave's wife looked up at him, alarmed. She'd been sitting in bed with Chell for the last few hours, making her sleep after she'd punched Cave in the nose. "I'm gonna go out for a bit. It's nothing serious, but if I'm not back in a few hours, I'll call up." Caroline nodded, settling back down. Cave opened the door and walked down the stairs. He'd been fearing this for a few days now, simply biding his time and waiting for the perfect moment. He grabbed his car keys off of a nearby table, pushing the front door open and unlocking the doors to his lemon-colored Ferrari. The car spluttered a bit, barely starting up. "Just like me," Cave muttered to himself. He sighed.

_What I need is a distraction._

Cave punched the radio, turning it to one of the popular music stations.

_"You've got suckers' luck,_  
><em>Have you given up?<em>  
><em>Does it feel like a trial, does it trouble your mind the way you trouble mine-?"<em>

Slightly alarmed, Cave Johnson twiddled the dial, tuning the radio to a news station. _Nothing bad to distract me here, right?_

_"Breaking news: New studies show that certain types of rocks, including moon rocks, are very hazardous to health in powder form. The moon rock fad seems to have come to a devastating close as several people are being transferred to hospitals in Seattle after developing malignant tumors in their lungs. For more, we go to-"_

_Crack._

Cave had slammed the radio with his wrist so hard that the little glass shattered, the plastic cracked, and, above all, started emitting fumes. Passerby were now staring through the windows of his car, scared, as if he was going to smash _them_ like he'd smashed that _stupid_ little radio to pieces. _Everything else was just so- insignificant._ Growling slightly, he pushed the accelerator, pulling out of his driveway onto the open road. He was racing away from everything he'd ever know, right back to the place he owned, the place he _knew_, ready to start over.

_Aperture._

**Rick's POV**

_Hey, what's that thing over there?_

The adventure core had been sitting in the core reject bin for quite some time now, tired, cold, and lonely. _Well, not lonely._

"It's space, Rick. That's space."

"Would you shut the _hell up?"_

Actually, Rick would _love_ to be alone right now. All the talk of space had been getting on his nerves enough for him to want to turn into a human, turn Space into a human, punch him the nuts, and wring his neck until he stopped talking _forever._"No, Rick, look! Oh, wait. That's a grabby-arm thingie," Space said, looking up again.

"Fact: Space does not exist. You will never go to space."

"You too!" Rick yelled. The other two cores started talking, if possible, louder. Even though he was seething in annoyance, he had to admit that the fact core, or Craig, was actually mostly on his side.

"The adventure sphere is a blowhard and a coward."

_Mostly._

Before Rick had any time to retaliate, the robotic arm above them picked him up and dragged him away, attaching him to what he recognized as the chassis of GLaDOS.

_[Core data downloading...]_

_[Download complete. Priority: All available cores to be turned into androids. Emergency [HUMAN CORE] AI switch necessary for further operation and testing. Please standby...]_

Rick was unplugged from the chassis rather violently, swung towards a glass chamber. The glass cracked as he hit it, but opened nevertheless, letting the robot arm drop him into the chamber. "Watch it, dammit! God, be a little more-"

_"Power-up complete. Central core-to-android switch initiated..."_

For a few minutes, Rick felt like a fast-growing tree, sprouting arms in place of branches and legs in place of roots. "Well, hell! Thanks a bunch, robot dude!"

"OH MY GOD! RICK, CRAIG, LOOK! WE'RE HUMAN! WE CAN GO TO SPACE!"

"Shit."

**Cave's POV**

Aperture hadn't changed a bit since he'd last seen it. Just sitting there in disrepair, obviously full of scientists that didn't give a damn about how the place looked as long as they got their work done. _Idiots._Someone had to look after the place, and Cave knew just the person for the job.

_Caroline._

_She'd_be able to run Aperture way better than some teen-aged scientists who hadn't completed high school. All they had to do was some pleading, and the woman would melt and run the place for the rest of forever.

"Mr. Johnson? What are you doing in here, sir?"

Cave scowled, turning to the young man behind him. "Just a visit. I'm fine." He walked on, coughing. He walked down several flights of stairs before he found what he was looking for- The human-to-core switch room. He stepped into the chamber, crashing onto the floor

_"Human detected. Switching to selected core type."_

According to the screen, the chosen core type was Adventure Sphere. "Adventure Sphere? What the hell-?"

_"Processing data. Please stand by."_

It was just like shrinking, actually. The only difference was that everything was going black, and his memories were slipping away...

His human body left behind, Rick the Adventure sphere was sucked through a tube, his green optic swirling all over the place to pick up his first taste of a cores' life.

**Space's POV**

Being human was _amazing._

Space could go wherever he wanted, flapping his arms and jumping, and once, throwing himself at Rick and squealing loudly. Rick hadn't been amused.

"Would you get the fuck off of me? What the hell is wrong with you?" He snapped, flailing around, running backwards into a wall to try and get him off.

"Fact: We are not humans. We are androids, designed specifically to taste-test whales," Craig said, scowling at the pair of them. Rick laughed, smashing Space into a wall, this time succeeding in shaking him off. "Taste-testin'? That doesn't sound too bad. Just keep this idiot as far away from me as possible," he added, turning back to Space, who grinned at him.

"It doesn't matter! I can still go to space. And leave you alone. WHY DOESN'T ANYONE LIKE ME?" Space burst out suddenly, his computerized voice bursting through Rick and Craig's eardrums. Rick winced. "It's not that no one likes you! Well, maybe it is-"

_Smash._

Space had shot his fist right into Rick's left eye, cracking the glass covering it. Rick reeled backwards. "No, no, that's not what I meant! Sorry, dammit! Don't hit me!" He added hastily as Space pulled his fist back for a second strike.

_"Corrupted Android found. Incinerating..."_

The robotic arm grabbed Space and chucked him into a room, locking the door. Space scowled, glaring around the room. _Robots. A production line. But no space. What do those robots do? _

"Please program robots to begin."

_Programmable? I'll get them back. _

_And then go to space._


	17. Jealousy

**'Ello! God, it's been forever, hasn't it?**

**Sorry for the delay. School started, there were really annoying power outages, and lots of homework. Especially from Algebra. You'd think they'd give you a break if you were in Honors Math... but no. Anyways, I came back from my little vacation (Hint: Think 4 feet of snow) to 26 EMAILS. 26. All of them were from FFN (except one from my best friend), and they took me a while to read. **

**Anyways. REVIEWERS! **

**DragonKat217: Thank you! :3 I made Cave a core because when I was playing the game a few days ago (okay, last month), I thought they sounded really similar. I got a maniacal idea, and I went with it. A lot of people have been asking that, so, there's your answer!**

**Dark Thunder27: SPAAAAACE~! YEEEHAWWWW! Thank you, lovely!**

**FrizzyLizzy214: First off, you used the word awesome. (Nope, I am NOT responsible for the fact that one of my reviewers will probably rip you to shreds.) Also, Cave was from old Aperture, and mentioned a few things about brain mapping, and uploading his brain to an AI... So I thought, maybe he's Rick! They sound the same, really... No problem, no question is too stupid. :)**

**FangirlyNeko: *Sigh* I know, right? Poor Space! I think he went insane. I think that Cave being Rick is hilarious. AWESOME! :3**

**Procella: Flamethrower-chainsaw? No problem. *Takes out bombs for throwing at you* INSANE!SPACE. OH YES. I think you've already snapped. WELL SO HAVE I. *Throws rhubarb on fire at you* Oh, and also: "YOU HAD TO PLAY BLOODY CAT AND MOUSE, DIDN'TCHA? WHILE PEOPLE WERE TRYING TO WORK. WELL, WE'RE ALL GOING TO PAY THE PRICE, CAUSE WE'RE ALL GOING TO_ BLOODY DIE!"_ Happy new year, anyways. If the bowmbs and rhubarb don't kill you. Heh.**

**Spawn of Madness: Yeah, poor Space! Looks like he's going to take Aperture to the moon...**

**Shouvin:**

**...**

**Hold on. Just a minor side-note here: IF YOU'RE GOING TO MENTION WHEATLEY, SPELL HIS DAMN NAME RIGHT. GOD, PEOPLE. SPELL THINGS RIGHT.**

**Anyways, Whales. Tasting Whales. Well, according to Fact core here, Whales are more intelligent, and three times as delicious, as humans. So. I dunno. Wheatley doesn't know how to fight properly. He's a moron. *Opens can of Monster and drinks some* Well, anyway-**

***Looks at rest of review* Oh my God. I'll go with option 2, I don't want to hit you, but at the same time, I seriously don't know you well... *Hides***

**Anyways. Heh. Thanks to everyone who reviewed Teardrops of the Fallen! I needed a break, hehe. Anyone who reviews LC this time shall get a genuine Human-to-android switch machine. **

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><p><strong>Wheatley's POV<strong>

_"Get your filthy hands off of her!"_

Rick laughed at him, stroking Chell's hair as she sat there next to him, immobilized. "And why should I do that? I'm enjoyin' myself here!" he said. "Besides, I do know she's your girl. I just kinda wanna make you feel-" Rick pressed a button next to his foot, which caged up Wheatley and GlaDOS.

"-Jealous."

Wheatley sighed. "Okay, alright, I get it," he muttered. "You're really jealous of me, aren't you? You're just trying to push your luck at this point, mate." He paused, letting the words sink in. "'Cause I know exactly how to get out of here."

"Sure you do."

Wheatley turned to GLaDOS, smiling. "Why don't you show him how it's done, Caroline?" GLaDOS scowled. "Don't call me that."

"Would you rather I called you Mrs. Potato Head? 'Cause I can do that."

GLaDOS rolled her eyes and pushed the bars of the cage far apart. Rick's eyes widened. He laughed nervously, then got up out of his chair and ran for his life. Wheatley snorted. "Coward." GLaDOS just sighed. "I'll get Chell out of there. You go on ahead and get rid of him."

"But-"

_"Just do it."_

He didn't have to be asked twice. Wheatley ran after Rick, yelling at him. "C'mon, mate! All I want to do it kill you, it won't hurt a bit!" Rick laughed back at him. "Sure, moron! Try to stop-"

_Crash._

There was the sound of metal and glass cracking, and Rick fell onto the ground, dazed. Wheatley, panting, fell to his knees next to him. Rick's left eye was cracked, part of the glass missing. "Nice battle scar," Wheatley gasped out, poking the glass. Rick recoiled. "Why the hell do you always want to hurt me? What did I ever do to you?"

_What did I ever do to you?_

It occurred to him that GLaDOS had said the exact same thing to Chell the first time she murdered the AI. Suddenly really mad, Wheatley punched Rick hard in the shoulder. "What did you ever do to me? For God's sake, you _stole Chell and nearly killed her!"_He snarled. Rick sighed. "Yeah, but, that wasn't you I was hurting, was it?"

"I think it hurt him more than it hurt me."

The two of them looked up to see Chell standing there, leaning heavily on GLaDOS' shoulder. Wheatley's face flushed as she smiled lovingly at him. _So much has changed... _He could still remember the time where Chell had outright loathed him for betraying her. It had only been a few months since that had happened. _And look where we are now!_Wheatley's heart burst with joy. He grinned widely back at Chell, his eyes unfocused. Yes, it may have taken him forever to realize it, but he loved her. Stepping closer to Chell, he threw his arms around her. "You okay, luv?" he asked, eying the cuts and bruises all over her. Chell nodded.

"I'm still standing here, y'know!" Rick's voice sounded from the other side of the hall. He scowled at them. "I'm also still in control. Might be a good idea to hand back _my_girl and get outta here before you're just a thousand pieces on the floor," he snapped, his hand over his shattered right eye. Wheatley stood protectively in front of Chell. "You aren't taking her anywhere, mate," he snarled back. "And I'm not movin' anywhere til you're dead."

"Catch me if you can, then!"

Rick took off again, and surprisingly, GLaDOS was the one to chase after him. Wheatley yelled at her to come back, but there was no response. Wheatley sighed, slapping his hand to his face. He turned to Chell, grinning awkwardly, feeling his face heat up even more.

"I guess it's just us again, then, luv."

**Space's POV**

Getting revenge was the best thing in the world.

Space sat there in the middle of the room, watching as his lovely robots ran out of the hole that had once been the doorway. He had wondered for a long time if any of them could be programmed to take him to space. He'd even asked a few of them, but they'd ignored him and ran off.

So far, the only humans he'd seen were the ones running through the corridor on the next floor. Space recognized them as the two GLaDOS would often go on about. _Testing, morons, more testing. Wow, that's boring. Space is way better. _

A few hours passed by.

"This place is _really_ boring," Space whined, getting up off of the floor. Suddenly, he realized there was a muffled, highly irritated, and _very_familiar voice coming from the other side of the door. "Move, dammit! Stop destroyin' everything!" Rick pushed his way through the flood of robots, collapsing onto the floor. He gasped for air, exhausted, and then looked up.

"Shit. It's you."

Space grinned at him. "Yay, now it's not boring! I have someone to kill!" Rick backed away, laughing nervously. "Aww, come on! I just wanted to apologize!" He said, grinning sheepishly. Space snorted, his grin fading. "Sure you did," he muttered. "You just came here to hide from _her._"

Rick sighed. "Yeah, well, that too. But I am really sorry. No hard feelings, right?"

_Crunch._

Space had pushed Rick up against the wall by the throat. "_No hard feelings?_ Right, of course. You try to kill me, you make sure _no one likes me,_and you don't like space?" Space pulled back his fist, ready to strike. Rick's eyes widened. "N-no," he choked out, running out of air. "Don't hit me, please! I'll help you do whatever it is you want me to do, just... don't kill me!"

Space smiled, releasing him. Rick fell to the ground, heaving in a few deep breaths. "God. Thank you, Space! Now what is you want me to do?"

"Where's the incinerator room?"

Rick flinched. "The next room down the hall. Why?" He asked, frowning. Space ignored the question and grabbed Rick's hand, pulling him through the stream of robots and out the door. Rick followed in silence, obviously confused. The heat was rising fast. The door to the incinerator room was wide open, and several robots seemed to be throwing themselves into oblivion. Space scowled, pushing them out of the way.

"What do you want me to do?" Rick asked again, this time sounding much more panicked. The fire coming from the incinerator reflected in his eyes. "Nothing much," Space murmured. "It's simple. The only thing I want you to do..." Space picked up Rick and placed him on the rail preventing anything from falling in.

"...Is die."

Rick yelled at Space to forgive him, but it was too late. Space pushed him hard into the fire pit below.

_Revenge is the best thing in the world._

**GLaDOS' POV**

GLaDOS chased Rick through quite a few hallways before she lost him. She scowled, pulling to a halt. "Dammit," she muttered, sitting on the catwalk she was on. The android must have fallen asleep, as a few hours went by.

_Target eliminated._

GLaDOS flew awake, her eyes wide. "_What?" _She'd been the one chasing that idiot, and now he was dead? "What happened to you?" She wondered aloud.

A scream from the room above answered her question.

Rick came flying onto the catwalk, landing with a thud. His green eyes no longer had any light in them, and there was a large hole in his chest, filled with ripped wires. GLaDOS flinched as she realized who it must have been. _Space._Judging from the fact that the room above was the incinerator room, Space had obviously tried to burn Rick to death. Rick might have held onto the rail and pushed himself back up. Space hadn't been very thrilled, and just pulled out his insides.

"Talk about revenge." The AI knew that even if Rick hadn't really been the greatest person ever, this wasn't acceptable. To make matters worse, the Announcers' voice sounded again.

"Core switch accepted. Space core now controlling this facility."

"Fantastic."


	18. Return

**'Ello! It's been... How long, exactly?**

**I think school kinda distracted me. I'm sorry. **

**(Do I have to make a side-note every time I publish a chapter?)**

**Yes, I made Space OOC. Please stop berating me for it. I needed a break from things, and I needed a vent for my own feelings. HORMONES. ._.**

**Reviewers:**

**: Another poke-war? No problem? *Pulls out rocket launcher***

**No, really. I'll poke back. **

**Spawn of Madness: GUESS WHO ELSE IS SICK? *Sneeze* Have I already reviewed your fic? Or one of them? I don't remember. And yeah. Rick is just... He (I nearly said she) is A LOT like my next door neighbor. Ugh. Anyways, thanks, Sis! XD**

**Shouvin: Space is just. Space. Space. Space. Space. I'M SORRY I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE SPELL HIS NAME WRONG! Sheesh! And no, you can't have my Monster. *Hits with leek* **

**Procella: Space didn't kill Rick. He just shorted out. :P Anyways... *Takes out leek* Oh, yes. You don't know this leek it's radioactive. And shoots nukes. AND SPACE CORES. HA. Also, thank you for being just about the only person hating me for making Space OOC. And, plus- NO RICK. NONE OF MY REVIEWRS ARE PRETTY LADIES. Okay, maybe a few. SHUT UP. Also, you'll love it til you're dead. Love it til it kills you. Or til I kill you. Whichever comes last. :D**

**Anyone who reviews gets a leek! Love you all! 3**

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><p><strong>Rick's POV<strong>

Space stood in front of Rick, his grin twisted and insane. The Adventure core was helpless and speechless for once as he pushed him over the ledge. Praying it would hold, he grasped onto the bottom of the railing, unknown to Space, who was starting to walk away. He clawed himself back up, launching himself at Space.

"_Gahhhhhh!"_Space slammed into the wall headfirst, his metal head crunching with the impact. Rick laughed at him. "Thought I'd really die from that? Not today, buddy! Now prepare to die!" Space looked scared and defeated as he looked up at the Android above him. Rick almost let out a sigh of relief, smiling wickedly down at Space, who cringed. "All I wanted to do was go to spaaaace!" he wailed, dragging out the last word. Rick sighed. "I know, dammit! But you tried to kill me!"

Space grinned. "_Tried? _I never finished!"

"Wait, what-?" Before Rick could finish his sentence, Space launched himself at him, knocking Rick to the ground. _You've gotta be kidding me!_

"If throwing you into a fire pit doesn't work, I guess I have to use the hard way, don't I?" Space's voice was actually pretty squeaky, making him sound like a five-year-old. It fit perfectly with his paranoia. "Either you take me to space _right now,_or I'm going to kill you!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice breaking.

"Okay, look, I can't take you to space, now or ever, unless you get me a rocket or something. Even then, I have no idea how to operate a rocket at all," Rick gasped out, shielding his face as Space pulled back his fist.

"Then you're useless."

Space reached forward. He didn't punch him; he pulled on a metal plate on his chest, exposing the wires underneath it. The last thing Rick saw was the ripped end of a wire, and all his life completely shorted out.

**Wheatley's POV**

"What is this place?" Even though he'd been living in it for almost all his life, Old Aperture was like Mars to him. Chell had explained most of it, but the gels and Cave Johnson's crazy attitude were totally beyond him. "It's not going to take much to get used to him," Chell had said as his voice rang out for the first time, stating something about war heroes, Olympians, and astronauts. Wheatley kept jumping as Johnson's voice started again, going on and on about Moon rocks. "Why would he care about Moon rocks, of all things?" Wheatley muttered, his back sore from crashing into the wall when he jumped. Chell scowled at him. "Moon rocks are the white gel," she explained, her voice sounding dead. "For all I know, the orange gel could be pudding, and the blue gel ground up grapes. Now will you _stop asking stupid questions?_" Wheatley was taken aback at the sourness in her voice, wondering why she seemed to hate his questions so much.

_Maybe it's because... Well, he was her father._

The moron sighed. "Alright, I get it. You don't want me insulting him. But honestly, I don't see why you didn't inherit his craziness-"

_Smack._

Chell had spun around and slapped him hard on the mouth, making him shut up immediately. "What was that for?"

"Don't call him crazy," Chell hissed, her face all up in Wheatley's personal bubble. "He may have been stupid sometimes, but _he is not crazy!"_Wheatley backed away slightly, red in the face. "Sorry! It's just that- Didn't he die of moon rock poisoning?"

"No."

"What did he die of, then?"

Chell sighed. "The only reason we're down here is because I want to figure out. He might not even be dead," she said. "He could have just disappeared." She didn't seem to believe the last one, but was happier nonetheless. Wheatley wasn't convinced. "Fine," he muttered. "If we find him in any way, I'll give you ten dollars."

"Where'd you get money?"

"Found it. Looked like money, anyways."

Chell snorted. "You're going to have to give me that, then," she said suddenly, her eyes wide as she looked down below them. Without warning, she jumped off the catwalk, landing safely on the one below. Wheatley gaped down at her. "Come on!" she said, grinning. He sighed, leaping off the catwalk. He landed shakily on his feet, falling forward onto the ground. Chell laughed at him, pulling him up. "Look at that!" she said, suddenly taking off, leaving Wheatley to fall again. He scowled. "Can you at least say something before you run off?" He yelled after her. "Honestly, you just-"

Then he saw it.

The Core-android-human switch room was there in front of him. Wheatley could still see the place where his blood had splattered the wall as he'd punched it in annoyance. He flinched as Chell looked at it, the place where he'd condemned himself to his... _moronics._She frowned. "That's weird. Who would bleed here, of all places?" She asked loudly. Wheatley felt his face getting hot. "Umm. Not- not me, of course. I don't think anyone in their right mind would do something like that!" he gave a nervous laugh, stopping only when Chell turned to stare at him. She obviously knew that he was lying, but she didn't say anything. She simply walked on, looking intently at the panel inside the machine. "Last used... November 27th, 1991." She turned to Wheatley, who was standing there, fidgeting slightly.

"You know who it was, don't you?"

Wheatley sighed. "Of course not!" he said hurriedly. Chell snorted. "Yes you do."

"No."

"Yeah."

"No."

"Yup."

"_Fine!_It was Cave Johnson! Are you happy now?"

Chell kissed Wheatley on the cheek, making him blush again. "What did he turn himself into?" She asked, her eyes wide. Wheatley sighed. "Rick," he replied, watching as Chell gasped in shock. "What an idiot. Well, anyways, it's taking it to another level, isn't it? Going from human to- of _all things!-_an Adventure Core. Huh. Well, either he knew what he was doing, or was-"

"Really stupid? I think we should go with that one."

GLaDOS stood there, dragging what looked like Rick's body behind her. "We just got ourselves a horrible mess."

**Space's POV**

_And they call me insane._

If anything, Old Aperture had been described as a hellhole. Wheatley and Chell, the two that _she'd_ always been talking about, had ventured down there for whatever reason. _To their deaths, probably, _Space thought sarcastically.

Being in control, he wanted to stop them from dying- after all, they'd make good friends once they obeyed him. At least, Wheatley would, anyway. Space didn't know about Chell. She seemed rough and overly determined. He decided to welcome the two of them.

"Space. Space. Spaace. Helloooo?"

"We can hear you, idiot," GLaDOS answered. "And we'd love for you to shut up." Space's anger threatened to overflow. As payback, he decided to make them feel just as uncomfortable as him.

He turned a bit until he was right in front of the controls for where they were- The dusty ones, the barely used ones. Space pressed a few buttons, frowning.

_Screeech._

_"Welcome to hell."_


	19. Hidden

**'Ello!**

**(Note: This is SilverLuna13. I got bored and deicded to change my name. :P)**

**God, this is a short chapter. What with all the snow days, power outages, and most of all, my work on translating things, I barely had time to throw together a chapter. So, I'm sorry. **

**On to the reviewers!**

**Shouvin: Fine, hate me if you want to. I might have also forgotten to mention that I'm a black belt in karate. School didn't just start... Winter break had just ended. To get to your question, go back a few chapters to Chell's memories- Wheatley used the machine after Cave Johnson, but it was never recorded, Aperture didn't have a proper AI. **

**C8ecat: YAY FOR SOMEONE WHO ISN'T KILLING ME OVER MY INSANE SPACE. Thank you! (Sheesh!) Anyways, thanks. I really like Cave and Caroline together, but I wanted a Chelley story, so. :) You don't have to go to hell, you're already in Aperture. Close enough.**

**FrizzyLizzy214: I tried drawing him, I tried. But I'm a fail at drawing sometimes... *Sigh* So, I'm going to leave it to anyone who wants to draw him. Because I really don't. Too many nightmares as it is. *Shudders***

**FangirlyNeko: Am I the only person in the Portal fandom making him insane? I'm actually not sure, but of all the stories I've read... Thank you! :3**

**Dark Thunder27: Revenge... Oh yeah. I've done that. *Insane grin* Thank you! ^^**

**Ghosted Army: My Spaaaaaace core scares everyone. Lol. Yay, a Warriors fan... StarClan's kits! Yeah, I wasn't expecting that either, but then my friend suggested it. Thanks!**

**Spawn of Madness: AWW SNAP. Y'all just got CRAZY SPACE'd. HA. Someone's hyper... X3**

**Dark Thunder27: Double review. "Welcome to hell." So many comments on that... XD I love mah Space.**

**Anyone who reviews gets a jar of rhubarb on fire!**

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><p><strong>Chell's POV<strong>

Chell fidgeted slightly, and Wheatley looked down, avoiding GLaDOS' eyes. Both of them knew now- Rick was, in fact, the person GLaDOS- Caroline- Had loved.

And neither of them knew it.

"What are you two staring at?" GLaDOS' sharp tone slashed into Chell's thoughts. "We need to get this idiot fixed- I don't know why, but it seems important." GLaDOS did sound really confused. Wheatley shot Chell a look, one that clearly asked _should we tell her?_

Chell barely shook her head in response. "Okay," she said, turning to GLaDOS. "It does feel important." Chell had barely finished her sentence when the catwalk suddenly split in two, separating her and Wheatley from GLaDOS and Rick. "What the-"

"_Welcome to hell."_

Space's voice sounded from above them, along with a maniacal laugh. "No one here can take me to space, so now, I'm _angry._" Chell scowled. She opened her mouth to rant; to tell that little idiot to shut up. Wheatley suddenly slapped his hand to her mouth, making her annoyed rant useless. Chell flapped her arms at him, trying to get him off of her. "Shh!" Wheatley said. "He's gonna kill us if we upset him anyway!"

There was a scream from far below. Chell looked down to see GLaDOS struggling to keep Rick's body away from the acid. GLaDOS was yelling at them now. "Get out of here! I'll find a way-"

_Crash._

The catwalk holding them moved, colliding with the wall. The yells grew more distant.

Chell turned, running down the catwalk and pulling Wheatley along behind her. He followed without protest. "D'you think he's set up tests for us?" He asked, stumbling through an elevator door and collapsing onto the floor. Chell snorted. "Knowing him, he's probably going to make us make him a rocket," she said.

"He's still a threat, though..."

Chell scowled at him. "You do know that people that are trying to kill you are threats, right?" Wheatley cringed, laughing. "'Course I do, luv. I dunno, though... He doesn't seem too deadly," he muttered, scratching his head. The elevator opened. Chell pulled Wheatley off the ground.

_01. _

_It's the first testchamber... What has he done with this place?_

The overgrown plants that were once there had disappeared, replaced by crazy scribblings all up the walls, which were now black. "I like what you've done with the place," Wheatley yelled sarcastically. "Really makes sure we can get out alive!"

"Really? Then I might have forgotten a few things."

The ground split below them, revealing a pit of acid. "This guy really has a thing for acid, doesn't he?" Wheatley muttered. Chell could imagine Space scowling at them. She pulled out her portal gun, smiling.

_One over here... Then over there..._Before long, the two of them had gotten into the elevator to the next chamber, ready for their next challenge.

**GLaDOS' POV**

_Why does he feel so important to me?_

Even though her system was optimized to hold infinite knowledge, the AI still couldn't figure out why she was saving Rick- after all, he'd nearly killed Chell and Wheatley. Something was just telling her to do it. "Maybe I'm just crazy," GLaDOS muttered to herself. "The only way to fix him is to go to the reassembly machine, and I don't even know if it still exists." _It's worth a try._

She could tell that tests were taking place above her from the seemingly random outbursts from Space. "I _love_acid, okay? Shut up!" he snapped. "Is it getting boring? 'Cause then I can kill you and go to Space."

"_Would you shut the fuck up and let us finish the damn test?"_

GLaDOS jumped as Wheatley's voice came roaring from above. _Calm down! _She thought weakly, tired from dragging Rick behind her. She still pressed on, desperate to find the reassembly machine.

"Wheatley! It's fine, just ignore him..." This time, it was Chell who was speaking, and there was the sound of a portal being placed. "It's not that hard, honestly, calm down a bit-"

_Thud._

_Silence._

The lights above them flickered. There was no noise from above for a few minutes. _I need a security camera..._GLaDOS ran along the catwalk, panicked. It took her a few minutes, but one was there- The glass was cracked and dusty, but it would do.

_Accessing camera 1343..._

In her vision, at last they were. Chell looked exhausted as she portaled on, Wheatley following close behind her, getting rid of a turret. GLaDOS watched as it flew through the air landing near the sign that marked the beginning of the chamber. _09. Turrets, acid- Mashy spike plates?_

_Really?_

GLaDOS surveyed the place, frowning. Then she shrugged it off. _He's violent, he'd do that. _

What she _didn't _notice, however, was the most important thing of all.

**Space's POV**

He sat there, waiting for them to finish. Space had grown tired of acid, so he'd looked around a bit for something equally deadly. At last, he found what had been Wheatley's favorite. "These are mashy-spike-plates, right?" he'd asked them, introducing them in chamber 3. Wheatley grinned. "Ah, yes. My favorite-" he broke off when Chell glared at him. "-Ah, um, yes. Those are. I really hate those things," he said quickly, blushing slightly.

Space scowled. His plan wasn't working. All he needed to do was to bring out Wheatley's corrupted side again, and not only would Chell be dead-

_I'll have a friend! Maybe he'd want to go to spaaaace with meeee..._

His thoughts wandered a bit as he watched the two of them complete the test. He was perfectly still until one of the security cameras seemed to have gone insane. "What the-?"

"Hey, we aren't doing anything!" Wheatley said irritably. Space sighed. "Not you. That camera-" Chell cut him off. "It's just Caroline," she said faintly. "Here to say hi. She's not a threat."

"Shut up."

Chell scowled at the camera. Wheatley blushed again. "I don't think you should have said-"

_Error. Camera 1345- datapoint not found._

"I should've guessed."


	20. Author's Note

...Okay. So, where do I start with this?

***Cough* **'Ello, as always! Heh.

Okay, so it's been a month since the last chapter of Love As a Compromise had been published. It's not because of writer's block, it's because I kinda sorta maybe just a little AM NOT much into the Portal fandom these days. Kill me, cut me up, whatever. When I feel like publishing chapter 20, I will, okay?

Right now, it's about 200 words long. Sighface.

While chapter 3 of the fic I'm publishing on FictionPress is a lot longer, and I started it this morning. LC 20 hasn't been touched for three weeks.

How have I been spending my time recently? In order of priorities, here's the list:

1. School

2. The rest of my life

Somewhere in number two, down at the very bottom, is LC. Near the top are my Vocaloid fics. I'M SORRY! ***Starts crying*** It's my fault, I know, I understand! But at least I've beat _Sing, Nightingale _in reviews!

...By one!

Hah. Well, I'm proud.

Combustible Lemons took us this far, didn't they? I'll pull this to a finish!

Love,

**Sadie 3**


	21. Frozen

**'Ello Again!**

**After three months (Or maybe 4) I looked at the barely-started chapter that this was and said "HEY. Why don't I work on this and not a new Vocaloid fic?" So, that's what I did.**

**I'm going to honor the one review I got for putting up that AN. I don't even remember who it was. I'm sorry... *Sweatdrop***

**Um. This chapter (In my honest opinion) sucks. I'm sorry, but read it anyway! I haven't gotten reviews from the story IN YEARS. **

**...Not that I'm threatening you to review at gunpoint or something. It's just this gun popped up in my hand. Well. **

**READ.**

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><p><strong>Wheatley's POV<strong>

_Crack._

In a rage, Chell had reached forward and pulled the camera of the wall and threw it into a nearby pit of acid. Unable to stop her, Wheatley had smiled at her. "I tried to tell him," he said, grinning widely.

He didn't say it out loud, but something had definitely changed with both Space and Chell. Space seemed nicer, somehow, and Chell seemed more distant. _I guess there's some things I'll never know,_ he thought sourly. _Well, I guess she has a right to hide stuff from me. _

Space, however...

_That _was totally beyond him. He was acting as if Wheatley was someone he was trying to impress, and Chell was another girl in the way. Wheatley snorted. _I wonder what he's trying to imply?_

Chell was seeming to refuse, point-blank, to stop storming through the test chambers, only pausing at all to answer his questions. "The reason I'm going so fast, you idiot, is because _the place is going to blow up!"_

"Oh, right. I forgot about that."

Chell sighed. "Moron," she hissed, barely avoiding another one of the increasingly widening gaps in the ground. The death traps were now more mashy-spike-plates and spinny-blade-walls than anything else, following along with Wheatley's plans to kill Chell and GLaDOS.

_Caroline? GLaDOS? That rampant AI?_

Wheatley grinned awkwardly as Chell waved her hand in front of his face, shattering his thoughts. "Is anyone there?" she asked, a faint smile crossing her face. He blinked rapidly. "Y-yeah, I'm fine, what is it?"

"We're here."

**Space's POV**

_This is taking too long._

The Space Android was lying upside-down on his chair in the control room, playing absentmindedly with his bright blond hair. "Lalalalala, space. Lalalalala. Spaaaace." He'd managed to turn off the intercoms so that the two of them couldn't annoy him as much as they had been doing, but it made him feel more alone than ever. "Hey. Does anyone have some space? Because I really want some space," Space yelled.

"Fact: Space does not exist."

The yellow-eyed android blinked. There, leaning coolly against the metal railing, was the Fact Android. "What? Where'd you come from? Do you have any-" Space was cut off as Fact replied. "I do not have any non-existant 'space'," he said robotically. "And my sensors tell me this place will implode in 11.3 hours if the AI in charge doesn't fix it." His eyes narrowed. "And you are not fit to be the AI in charge."

_Great, more people hating me._ "Shut up. I'll fix it," Space said, irritated. He sat up straight, or at least tried to, before tumbling onto the ground and smacking his head hard onto the floor below. "Oww," he whimpered, getting up off of the floor and sitting back in his chair, rubbing his head. "Fine! If you think _you're_ so clever, why don't _you_fix it?"

Fact shook his head. "All cores within this facility are too corrupt to take control of it," he said. "However, there _is_a human who could fix it." Space frowned, turning to Fact again. "A human?" Fact nodded, his dark pink eyes narrowed. "There's two of them, in fact."

"Let me guess." Space scratched his head, pretending to think. "Oh, wait, aren't there only two humans left here? What were their names again? Oh, right. Wheatley and Chell." Space's bright eyes darkened, turning to an almost solid red. "And how are they going to get here? Easy answer. _They can't."_Fact ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "Well, if you want the place to fall apart-"

_"Warning. Facility will self destruct in 11.2 hours."_

**GLaDOS' POV**

GLaDOS pulled her vision out of the camera, watching absently as one of one of RIck's ripped wires sparked. "Yeah, yeah, I know. We need to get you fixed..." She weakly tried to remember where the re-assembly machines were. "Huh. Seems like we have a problem. The only person who knows where the re-assembly machines are... is either dead, or fighting for his life."

_Great. I have to go find the moron. But it's the only thing I can do. _

"Come on," she muttered. "We might as well go ask." She picked up one Rick's legs and pulled hard, growling in annoyance. "Why can't you just fix yourself?" She snapped.

Then it hit her.

"That's it," GLaDOS whispered, letting Rick go with a _clunk._"Every AI is fitted with an auto-repair sequence. Of course," she added, "You were corrupt, so..." she set to work, plunging a hand into the tangled mess of wires, her face looking determined.

_[Initiating Auto-repair sequence]_

_[Password:]_

_[********]_

_[Initiating...]_

A few wires sparked again as they wound around each other in an attempt to fix themselves.

_[Repair Sequence at 93%]_

_[ERROR- File group {SPEECH} Not found. Continue?]_

_[Repair complete]_

"So you can't talk, huh?" GLaDOS said, looking at Rick as his green eyes flickered back to life. "At least you won't bother me as much-" She cut off as Rick began to stand, opening his mouth to say something.

_"ERROR."_

Rick frowned. _"ERROR." _He scowled, putting up his middle finger at GLaDOS. "Whoa," she replied. "No 'Thanks for bringing me back from the dead?' Well, I can't say I was expecting it, really, but still. Don't be like that." Rick turned away, his hand over his face.

"Well, we'd better get going. Those two aren't going to save themselves, you know."

Rick turned back around, his eyes narrowed. _Fine,_He mouthed. Then he stomped past GLaDOS and across the catwalk.

**Rick's POV **

_It's not them I'm scared for..._

_Damn._

_This makes no sense. _

_Well, hey. At least she didn't throw me over a ledge, guess I gotta thank her for that. Still, though. Can't even fucking talk. _

_Hey. What's that? Oh, thanks, I know that's the catwalk. I MEANT THAT THING. Oh, turret redemption lines. Helps a whole bunch. Can you stop glaring at me so much?_

_Great. Why do you have to grin like that? Do you know that I'm mad? Good, because I am! Stop grinning! Actually, don't stop grinning. Please don't stop grinning. But do stop walking ahead of me so much. STOP IT. Agh. Why aren't you letting me see your face?_

_Whoa! Don't get mad. It's fine, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I pressed the button that splits the catwalk in two. I said- DAMMIT, I'M FUCKING SORRY, ALRIGHT? _

_Shit._

_Why is it that she's the only person who can help. I'd like it more even it were that Space idiot leading me. Hey, Potato! Is this some shit quest to save your daughter and her friend?_

_Do you care about them more than you care about me?_

_Well, of course you do. She's your daughter, I'm just the asshole at the end of the line. Sorry. Well, damn, look at that. Testchamber 01. Put the box on the button. Bam, the door's open! Hah, look, I actually did it!_

_Are you proud of me? Please be proud of me. "Good job!" Hey, thanks, I love you too._

_Please don't tell me I said that out loud._

_Oh, good. Thank god. Testchamber 02. Box on button. Go through that portal and- HOLY FUCK IS THAT ACID? Damn, this guy is gonna be the death of us. Well, I could pull off a backflip here, but- Oh wait, you solved it._

_Good job, gorgeous._

_Gotta compliment the ladies. _

_That's a cute smile you got there. Uh, don't take that the wrong way. Testchamber 03. PORTAL GUNS! Aww, one's broken- Hey, you fixed it- Uh, thanks? You seem snappy. Sorry. _

_Pickup lines?_

_'Hey, how long has it been since you've seen a naked guy in a bed?' Wow, that was horrible. Ow, damn you, what was that for? Did I mouth that? Fuck. Sorry for the maybe billionth time. 10 years? Damn, been a while for you. Forget I said that, though._

_Testchamber 04. And look, more acid, and mashy-spiky-thingies. Absolutely fucking lovely, don't you think? Whoa. That was fast. Come on? Over there? How the hell do I- Oh, like that. Portal here, portal there, done. FUCK YOU, SPACE-TARD. HAH._

_Uh. Well, stuck here in this elevator with you is hard to pull off without sweating._

_WHY THE HELL. I'm so... _

_Dammit._


	22. Endgame

**It's been over a year! Just goes to show how much I suck at regular updates.**

**My sincere apologies; I know many have been watching this story rather disappointedly. "This story needs more chapters," or "Are you dead?" have been common reviews. And, I'm happy to say, this story is nearly finished. This is the second to last chapter.**

**I love you all, everyone that's read, to all that have reviewed, to people who have been waiting and perhaps all but forgotten of this story's existence. So many chapters... *Sighs* I feel like I'm sending a kid off to college XD**

**Love,**

**-Sadie :)**

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><p><strong>Chell's POV<strong>

"_Warning. Facility will self-destruct in 11.2 hours."_

Beside her, Wheatley flinched. "Well then," he said. "It probably won't take us that long to get to them, yeah?" he asked, sounding as if he was trying to convince Chell more than himself. Chell smirked slightly. "Hope it works out that way," she replies, smoothing back loose strands of hair that had fallen in her face. "Or else it's 11.2 hours until death."

Wheatley shuddered as he got into the elevator at the end of the so-called testchamber (death trap, really). The alarms had started to go off. _All personnel evacuate immediately, _they blared. _Facility explosion imminent. _Right when he'd thought they had some snippet of a chance to get out alive, they're faced with the fact that some _idiot_ hit the self-destruct button. _Bloody brilliant. _

Chell, in the meanwhile, is far less worried about dying than he is; she is more concerned about the fact that the means of escape are getting harder. She honestly doesn't care very much about their chances of survival, she just wants to stop Space Core before things get seriously out of hand. But now that's starting to look near impossible.

Thankfully, her desperation has worn off in the few hours that have passed, and now there is only one thing repeating through her mind. _Get him out. _It didn't matter how, or who survived, it was only a matter of shoving Space out of the seat he held and shove him into a bottomless pit lined with mashy spike plates.

Bit harsh, isn't it?

"_Warning. Facility will self-destruct in 7.2 hours." _Damn. They had about ten test chambers to go, and, whoops, _looks like someone found GLaDOS' tests. _Wheatley cringes as he realizes the chambers are getting harder and harder to push through, but Chell remains resolute and resourceful as time goes on. _Avoid the floor. Pick up the turret. Hit the button. The door's open. _It wasn't hard for her.

One of the things that worries Wheatley is that Chell is completely and utterly silent; it is as if they're back to the time where she didn't have her voice. "You okay, love?" he asks quietly in chamber 13. She nods. He's a bit more worried than before. He doesn't understand that Chell is once again stuck in the one-track world of _let's get out of here._ It's not like he hadn't seen it before, it's just that he is so worried that he'd all but forgotten about it, just like the bumbling moron he is, like he was built to be.

And, at last, in chamber 21, Chell stops.

She's never, _never ever_, seen a test she hasn't been able to solve. But then again, she's never faced a test where floor is completely non-existent, let alone the fact that there are no white walls, either. No conversion gel. No nothing. Just lazers, acid, and... Death.

Wheatley surveys the chamber himself, determined to, for once, outshine her and find something. But even he is stuck. "You sure this is the right place?" he mumbles, turning back to the elevator and frowning at it. "Maybe it isn't functioning right. Uh, I mean, the place is going to blow up, all reserve power goes to-" He cuts off and flinches as Space Core's voice rings out. _"Solve itttttttttttt," _He whines. _"I gave it to you! Solve it!" _His voice rises to a shriek and Wheatley jumps. "Alright, alright, just give us some help, why don't- Chell?" The girl shoots forward, and, _bam, _out of nowhere, a faith plate throws her into a wall; the wall across from it springs to life and turns white, portals shoot out, and Wheatley laughs in amazement.

His luv's unstoppable.

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><p><strong>Rick's POV<strong>

_Alright, this is getting fucking ridiculous._

_I TRY TO WARM UP TO THIS GIRL AND SHE TRIES TO STRANGLE ME. I mean, it was all in good fun! Geez, gimme a break. Heheheh. Maybe if I just- Whoa, alright, that was hella fast, how are you so good at- right, you made all the chambers yourself. Never mind, girlie. _

_Man, I dunno, but something about you is pretty damn familiar. I've seen my fair share of ladies, but, hey, haven't ever really seen one twice, I don't think. Do I know you from somewhere? Yes? No? Alright, don't answer, you can't hear my thoughts anyway. _

_Oh, right, you're that lady who got turned into a potato. The one with the weird daughter. What's her name? Micah? Michelle? Something like that. Test chamber 22! Fan-fucking-tastic! How many of these are there? Three more? Awesome! Let's do this, how's about you take a little break and let me-_

_Oww, dammit, that _hurt, _quit it! Sorry! You can go ahead and WHAT WAS THAT? Oh. It's the Spacetard. WE ARE SOLVING IT AS FAST AS WE CAN, OKAY? JESUS. SHUT UP. _

_Hey, look, it's Wheatie! And Michie? Chell. Oh. Sorry. I didn't know her name. Don't laugh at me. I CAN'T TALK. JUST BECAUSE I CAN'T TALK DOESN'T MAKE ME A WALKING TARGET. Gah. How do we get out of here? Alive or dead? Just kidding. Why don't you find a way, girlie? Oh, nope, looks like Spacetard's bringin' the fight to us. Whoo._

_Shall we?_

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><p><strong>GLaDOS' POV<strong>

She'd been expecting something like this.

It was like the time she herself had been murdered the first time around, when Chell had been her enemy. Rockets. Neurotoxin. The like. She let out a frustrated sigh as she looked up- The seat that she had sat in at one point was being lounged in by the Space Android, who had a rather cheeky grin on his face. "So," he started. "It's you guys against death." His eyes narrowed. "Good luck."

The rocket turrets pointed at them and the four of them scrambled in different directions; Chell ran to the nearest wall and Wheatley ran behind her; GLaDOS sprinted to the opposite edge of the room and Rick ran in the opposite direction from the rocket that was chasing him, eventually running into a corner and gasping for breath. Luckily for him, the rocket smashed into the wall next to Wheatley and went off with a terrifying _bang, _making the moron jump about two feet into the air.

"Now what?" he yelled, and as if answering his question, Chell ran forward and placed a blue portal in the wall next to the chair the android was sitting in and and scowled at the rocket for a few seconds before placing a portal in the wall behind her; the rocket flew right through it and hit the bottom of Space's chair. He laughed. "Try again! Poor aim, you'd never be able to aim a rocket at the moon! Spaaaaaaaace..." He trailed off into blabber and Rick rolled his eyes. _Fantastic, _he mouthed at GLaDOS, who simply snorted. "Don't worry," she mumbles, and with a great, somewhat computerized-sounding yell, she runs forward and shoots a portal of her own on the ceiling and on the floor below her, falling through and landing directly on top of Space, who screamed. "Get off get off get off!" The white-haired android only scowls. "Get out," she snaps, and Space desperately flaps his arms at her.

While this is going on, Chell searches the walls for the perfect spot. As much as she wants to hit Space right in the face (_Hey, that rhymes, _she thought), now there was her mother to worry about. Forget about what GLaDOS had done to her before; she was still her _mother, _for God's sake. And yet finding an empty spot is proving to be ridiculously hard to do. Space is screaming and GLaDOS is yelling at him straight back, saying things like "Worse than the British moron" and "Stupid little idiot."

There is the odd _flup _sort of noise, the portal-creation noise, and Chell makes up her mind. She shoots a Portal behind her, a blue one, and grins cheekily at the rocket. "Come and get me," she mumbles. From the wall, Wheatley yells something at her, but she cannot hear; from even farther off she sees Rick the Adventure Android blinking rather concernedly up at GLaDOS. Space's screeches are fading away, GLaDOS seems almost silent, and Wheatley stops, stunned, and-

_Foom. _

The jump-suited woman steps aside at the last second and lets the rocket decide their fate.

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><p><strong>It's short. And it's a cliffhanger. <strong>

**I'm sorry. I'll get better at regular updates, I promise! I'll finish this story and do a drabble for the wonderful pair that is Chell and Wheatley, I swear, I hope people haven't forgotten about this story :)**

**So close to 100 reviews, can we make it?**


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